出席
しゅっせきする · shussekisuru · JLPT N4 · noun
attendance
🪑 出席 = go out (出) + seat (席): go out and take your seat
出 means to go out or show up, 席 means a seat or place at a gathering. Showing up to your seat is attendance. Add する to make the verb: 出席する, to attend. The opposite swaps the first kanji: 欠席, lacking a seat, means absence.
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.'
席 — 广 (shelter) + 巾 (cloth), over woven mat 苫
Originally a pictograph of a woven mat or rush mat used for sitting on the floor, with 巾 (cloth) hinting at the woven material under a shelter 广. Because guests were seated on such mats, 席 extended to mean 'seat,' 'place at a banquet,' and later any 'seat' or 'membership' in a group.