下午
xià wǔ · HSK 1
afternoon
🌇 下午 = 下 (below/later) + 午 (noon) — the part of the day after noon
午 means noon (the sun at its peak), and 下 here means 'after' or 'later in'. Together 下午 literally reads 'after-noon', mirroring the English word almost exactly.
下 — horizontal line 一 + mark below
下 is an indicative character: a long horizontal line represents a reference level, and a shorter stroke placed beneath it points to the area below. The original meaning 'below, down' comes directly from this spatial diagram, and it later extended to verbs like 'descend' and 'lower'.