郊外
こうがい · kougai · JLPT N4 · noun
suburb
🏡🌳 郊外 = outskirts (郊) + outside (外): the area outside the city edge
郊 means the land just beyond a city's walls, and 外 means outside. Together: the outer fringe of town, the suburbs. Sound hook: kougai starts like 'go' — you go out (外, gai) of the city to reach 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'.