遇 (yù): to encounter; to meet; to happe…

Meanings

1 to encounter; to meet; to happen upon

Characters

遇

yù

to encounter; to meet

辶 (movement) + 禺 (area) — moving into someone’s area, an encounter

Examples

在路上遇到了老同学。

Zài lùshang yùdào le lǎo tóngxué.

I ran into an old classmate on the road.

遇到困难不要放弃。

Yùdào kùnnán bùyào fàngqì.

Don't give up when you encounter difficulties.

他遇人不淑。

Tā yù rén bù shū.

He fell in with the wrong people.

Tips

usage

遇 alone is more literary. In everyday speech, it's usually combined: 遇到 (yùdào) or 遇见 (yùjiàn). 遇 alone appears in set phrases like 遇人不淑 or 遇难 (to die in an accident).

Components

radical

辶 chuò

motion; walking

Bottom-left motion radical (side-form of 辵) — three strokes drawing a foot taking a step along a road. Anchors 遇 in the motion-verb family alongside 进 (advance), 道 (road), 过 (cross), 还 (return). To 遇 someone is to encounter them while in motion — the radical makes the meeting unplanned.

phonetic

禺 yú

monkey; corner (here phonetic)

Top-right 禺 supplies the sound — yú drifted to yù with a tone shift. Same phonetic in 偶 ǒu (pair, by chance), 寓 yù (reside), 愚 yú (foolish), 隅 yú (corner). 偶 is the semantic twin: to 遇 by chance is the 偶然 of 遇. Pure phonetic loan.