刚
gāng · HSK 2
only a short while ago
💪 刚 = 冈 (ridge, phonetic gāng) + 刂 (knife) — a hard, sharp blade
Original sense was hard or strong (like tempered steel), which extended to just barely or just now — something that only barely happened, sharp and recent in time. The 冈 component carries the gāng sound.
刚 — knife 刂 + net/ridge 岡 (phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The knife radical 刂 carries the meaning of something hard or sharp, while 岡 (a mountain ridge) supplies the sound. The original sense was 'hard, firm,' as in a blade's edge, which extended to 'strong, unyielding' and later the adverbial sense 'just now, just barely.'