行き違い
いきちがい · ikichigai · JLPT N1 · noun
misinterpretation
🚆 行き (going) + 違い (different): going different ways, so you miss each other
Originally two trains passing on a single track, or people crossing paths and missing each other. Extended to misunderstandings and disagreements, where the intended meaning and the received meaning pass each other.
行 — crossroads pictograph (left 彳 + right 亍)
行 originally pictured a four-way crossroads in oracle bone script, with two paths meeting. From 'road' it extended to 'walk, go, travel,' and then to 'a row, line' or 'business firm' (read háng). The two halves 彳 and 亍 are the split sides of that ancient crossroads.