外交
がいこう · gaikou · JLPT N3 · noun
diplomacy
🤝 外交 = outside 外 + exchange 交: dealings with outside nations
外 (gai) means outside or foreign, as in 外国 gaikoku, foreign country. 交 (kou) means to exchange or mix, as in 交換 koukan, exchange. Diplomacy is a country's exchanges with the world outside it.
外 — evening 夕 + divination 卜
Originally a compound of 夕 (evening) and 卜 (divination). Ancient Chinese divinations were performed in the morning; doing them at evening (夕) was considered irregular or 'outside' the norm. From this sense of deviation, 外 came to mean 'outside' or 'external'.
交 — top 亠 + 父-like crossed legs
Originally a pictograph of a person standing with legs crossed, showing the idea of crossing or intersecting. From this concrete image, the meaning extended to abstract senses like 'exchange,' 'interact,' and 'hand over.' Modern uses such as 交流 (exchange) and 交通 (traffic) all trace back to this core notion of crossing.