The kanji 遭 primarily conveys the meaning of "to encounter," "to meet with," or "to suffer." It often implies an unexpected or undesirable situation. It suggests experiencing something, particularly something difficult or negative.

・On-yomi (音読み): ソウ (sō) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): あ（う） (a(u)) - to meet, to encounter

⚫︎ 交通事故（こうつうじこ）に遭（あ）う Translation: To be involved in a traffic accident. ⚫︎ 災害（さいがい）に遭（あ）う Translation: To be hit by a disaster. ⚫︎ 困難（こんなん）に遭（あ）う Translation: To encounter difficulties.

The kanji 遭 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字, けいせいもじ). The left side is a radical 辶, which is the "辶" (しんにょう) radical that represents "to walk" or "movement". The right side is 曹 (そう, sō) which functions phonetically, indicating the sound and providing a secondary meaning related to "meeting" or "being together." Therefore, 遭 combines the idea of movement or encountering with the sound and the concept of encountering something or someone. The original meaning evolved to encompass the idea of "encountering" or "meeting" events, whether good or bad, but frequently implying a negative experience.