場合
ばあい · baai · JLPT N4 · noun
situation
場合 = place (場) + fit/meet (合): where things meet = the case at hand
場 (ba) means place or occasion; 合 (ai, from 合う) means to fit or come together. The circumstances that come together at one occasion make a case or situation. Sound hook: ba + ai, like saying buy with a stretched a.
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.