出会う
であう · deau · JLPT N3 · verb-godan
to meet by chance
🤝 出 out + 会う meet = go out and meet someone by chance
出 (de, go out) + 会う (au, meet): you head out and run into someone you weren't expecting. Plain 会う can be planned, but 出会う means chance. The noun 出会い (deai) means a first meeting, often with a future partner.
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.