不时
bùshí · HSK 5
every so often
⏰ 不时 = not + time → 'no fixed time' = every so often
Decomposition: 不 (bù, not) + 时 (shí, time/hour). Literally 'not at a set hour' — i.e. occurring at no fixed time, hence 'every so often' or 'from time to time'.
不 — single pictograph; bird flying upward
Originally a pictograph in oracle bone script, traditionally interpreted as a bird flying up toward the sky and unable to come down, suggesting negation or refusal. Over time it became the standard negation word in Chinese, used before verbs and adjectives to mean 'not'.
时 — sun 日 + temple/measure 寺
Originally a phono-semantic compound: 日 (sun) gives the meaning of time or season, while 寺 (shí) supplies the sound. Early forms used 之 as the phonetic before 寺 replaced it. The core sense 'season, time, hour' has stayed stable since ancient Chinese.