不期而遇

bùqī'éryù

idiom #39,853

Meanings

Wǒ zài Dōngjīng de jiētóu hé lǎo tóngxué bùqī'éryù.

I ran into an old classmate by chance on the streets of Tokyo.

Lǚtú zhōng zuì měi de jiùshì nàxiē bùqī'éryù de fēngjǐng.

The loveliest part of any journey is the unexpected scenery you stumble upon.

history

From 《谷梁传·隐公八年》: '不期而会曰遇' — 'to gather without prior arrangement is called 遇.' The phrase codifies the classical definition of 遇 itself.

不 bù

期 qī

而 ér

遇 yù