The phrase 出乎意料 (chū hū yì liào), meaning "unexpected" or "beyond expectation", is a classical four-character idiom (chengyu) formed through a logical grammatical structure. It breaks down as 出 (to go beyond) + 乎 (a classical preposition meaning "from" or "than", here functioning like "out of") + 意料 (expectation, anticipation). Literally, it parses as "[to go] out from (one's) expectation", where 出 and 乎 form a classical verb-preposition unit meaning "to exceed", which then takes the object 意料. The phrase thus encapsulates the concept of an event transcending the boundaries of what was imagined or predicted.