错过
cuòguò · HSK 6
to miss (train, opportunity etc)
🚪 错 = wrong + 过 = pass → wrongly pass by, i.e. miss it
错 means wrong/mistaken; 过 means to pass or go through. Together: to pass by wrongly — to miss (a chance, a bus, an opportunity). The 过 component also gives the sense of something going past you and being gone.
错 — metal radical 钅 + 昔 (xī, former times)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 钅(金) 'metal' gives the meaning, while 昔 supplies the sound. It originally referred to gilding or inlaying metal, then extended to 'interweave, alternate,' and from 'crossed/mixed up' came to mean 'wrong, mistaken.'
过 — 辶 walk radical + 呙 (phonetic)
过 combines the walking radical 辶, suggesting motion or passage, with 呙 serving as the phonetic component. Originally it depicted crossing or passing by on foot, which extended to meanings like 'to pass,' 'to cross over,' and later 'past' or 'excessive.' The simplified form replaces the traditional 過.