何时
hé shí · HSK 7
when
🕐 何 (what) + 时 (time) = what-time = when
何 means what/which, 时 means time or hour (as in 时间). Stick them together and what-time becomes when. The same 时 shows up in 小时 (hour) and 时间 (time).
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.