Definitions

audience, interview; face-to-face meeting

Etymology phono-semantic

meet

Semantic: Phonetic:

About

The character "觌", whose traditional form is "覿", is constructed from the semantic component "见" or "見", meaning "to see", combined with the phonetic element "卖" or "賣", which historically indicated pronunciation. This formation has consistently represented the act of seeing or meeting face-to-face since its early usage in classical texts. Over time, the character's meaning has remained focused on visual encounter or direct meeting, with its application becoming more specialized in literary or formal contexts. The simplified form retains the same structural principle, with "见" as the semantic radical and "卖" as the phonetic component, reflecting the character's enduring link to sight while adapting the graphic form.

Etymology Hide

Seal etymology image
Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)
Clerical etymology image
Clerical Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
Traditional Modern
Simplified Modern