外（そと、soto）
- outside

The Japanese word 外, read as そと (soto) or がい (gai) depending on the context, primarily means "outside" or "exterior." It refers to a place or thing that is not inside a specific boundary or container. It can describe a physical location, the outer part of something, or even something that is not included. 外 also means "other" or "foreign" when read as がい (gai).

⚫︎家の外 Translation: Outside the house. ⚫︎窓の外 Translation: Outside the window. ⚫︎外の景色 Translation: The scenery outside. ⚫︎外国 Translation: Foreign country.

⚫︎When used as そと (soto), it is used to describe a place outside, like being in the garden or on the street. ⚫︎It is typically used to indicate location relative to an enclosed space or boundary. ⚫︎When used as がい (gai), it often appears in compound words, related to anything "outside" of a group or context, or to indicate something is foreign.

⚫︎The word is most commonly written as 外 using the kanji. ⚫︎The hiragana そと is used for the pronunciation of "outside" (location). ⚫︎The kanji 外 can also be read as がい (gai) in compound words like 外国 (gai-koku, foreign country). ⚫︎The okurigana (hiragana following the kanji) is not normally used when writing そと, but it can appear depending on the context.

⚫︎外部 (gaibu): exterior, outside ⚫︎屋外 (okugai): outdoors ⚫︎向こう (mukou): over there, beyond (can imply outside depending on context)

⚫︎内 (uchi): inside ⚫︎中 (naka): inside, middle

今日は外はとても寒い。 ・Translation: It's very cold outside today. ・Explanation: This sentence uses 外 to describe the external temperature.

その問題は私の専門の外だ。 ・Translation: That problem is outside of my specialty. ・Explanation: In this context, 外 means "outside" of my field of expertise.

The kanji 外 combines the elements of "卜" which means "divination, fortune telling", and "夕" which means "evening". Its original meaning was related to "to divine". Then it was extended to mean "outside" or "beyond" in terms of physical space.