定期
dìngqí · HSK 3
regularly
📅⏰ 定 = fix/settle + 期 = period; a settled period = regular schedule
定 carries the sense of fixing or setting something in place; 期 means a time period or term. Together they describe a time that's been locked in — hence regular, periodic, or scheduled intervals.
定 — roof 宀 + 正 (correct/upright, phonetic)
Originally written with 宀 (roof) over 正 (upright/correct), suggesting a household settled and orderly under its roof. Over time 正 simplified to 㐬-like form at the bottom, and the meaning shifted from 'settled home' to the broader senses of 'fix, stable, decide.'
期 — 其 (phonetic) + 月 (moon/time)
期 is a phono-semantic compound. The right side 月 (moon) signals meaning, since lunar cycles marked fixed time periods in ancient China. The left side 其 supplies the sound. Together it points to a set time, period, or appointed date — meanings still carried today in words like 期间 and 日期.