出口
でぐち · deguchi · JLPT N5 · noun
exit
🚪 出口 = go out (出) + mouth (口): the mouth you go out through
出 (de, from deru, to go out) plus 口 (kuchi, mouth or opening), with kuchi voiced to guchi in the compound. Its opposite is 入口 (iriguchi), enter + mouth, so the two signs differ only in the first character.
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.'
口 — pictograph of an open mouth
口 is one of the oldest pictographs in Chinese, originally drawn as a simple outline of an open mouth. Its core meaning 'mouth' extended naturally to 'opening' or 'entrance', as in 入口 (entrance). It also serves as a common radical in characters related to speech, eating, or apertures.