一刹那
yīchànuó · HSK 7
a very short time
⏱️ 一 (one) + 刹那, where 刹那 is from Sanskrit kshana, a Buddhist word for an instant
一 — single horizontal stroke
一 is one of the simplest pictographs in Chinese, depicting a single horizontal line to represent the number one. It has retained essentially the same form since oracle bone script over 3,000 years ago. By extension it also means 'first,' 'whole,' or 'same.'
那 — 邑 radical 阝(right) + 冄 phonetic
Originally referred to a place name in ancient China, with the right-side 阝 (city/region radical) indicating a settlement and 冄 providing the sound. Over time it lost its geographic meaning and was borrowed as a demonstrative pronoun meaning 'that' or 'those'.