出合い
であい · deai · JLPT N3 · noun
brush
🤝 出合い = come out (出) + meet (合い): you step out and meet someone
出 (de) means to go out or emerge, and 合い (ai) comes from 合う, to meet or fit together. So an encounter is when two paths come out and meet. You can also hear it as 'day-eye': you meet someone's eye during the day.
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.'
合 — 乛 (lid/roof) + 口 (mouth)
Originally a pictograph of a lidded vessel — a cover (亼) closing over an opening (口) — giving the core sense of 'come together, join, fit.' From 'fit/match' it extended to 'combine, unite, agree' and to measure-word uses. The reading hé reflects this 'joining' meaning.