出会い
であい · deai · JLPT N3 · noun
meeting
🤝 出会い = 出 go out + 会い meeting: you go out and meet someone
出 (de) means to go out or emerge, and 会う (au) means to meet. Together, 出会う is to come out and run into someone, so 出会い is that encounter, often a chance or fateful first meeting. Think de-AI: step out (de) and meet (ai).
出 — foot 止 emerging from enclosure 凵
出 is a pictograph showing a foot or plant stepping out of a hollow or enclosure, depicting the act of going forth. The original sense of 'coming out' or 'emerging' has remained stable since oracle bone script. It now broadly means 'to exit, go out, or produce.'
会 — 人 person on top + 云 cloud/say below (simplified from 會)
The traditional form 會 showed a lid over a vessel with contents stacked inside, depicting things coming together — hence 'meet, gather, assemble.' From 'gathering' it extended to 'meeting,' then 'understand' (minds meeting) and 'be able to.' The simplified 会 keeps only a schematic top and bottom.