都合
つごう · tsugou · JLPT N4 · noun
fortune
📅 都合 = all (都) + fit together (合): how everything fits your schedule
都 means all or altogether, 合 means to fit or match. When all the pieces fit together, the timing is convenient; when they don't, circumstances get in the way. Hence 都合がいい = it suits me, 都合が悪い = it doesn't.
都 — 者 (phonetic) + 邑/阝 (city radical)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The right-side 阝 (a reduced form of 邑 'city, settlement') gives the meaning, while 者 supplies the sound. Originally it referred to a capital or major city, and later extended to mean 'all' or 'even' when read dōu.
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.