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

HSK 1

在路上遇到了老同学。

Zài lùshang yùdào le lǎo tóngxué.

I ran into an old classmate on the road.

HSK 5

遇到困难不要放弃。

Yùdào kùnnán bùyào fàngqì.

Don't give up when you encounter difficulties.

HSK 7-9

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 (pair, by chance), 寓 (reside), 愚 (foolish), 隅 (corner). 偶 is the semantic twin: to 遇 by chance is the 偶然 of 遇. Pure phonetic loan.