早期
zǎo qī · HSK 5
early period
🌅 早 = early + 期 = period; together: early period/stage
早 (zǎo) means early or morning; 期 (qī) means period, phase, or term (as in 学期 school term). Stack them and you get early-period — the early stage of something.
早 — sun 日 + ten 十 (originally 甲, a helmet/sprout)
Originally depicted the sun 日 rising above a sprouting plant or a person's head, suggesting the early morning when the sun first appears. The lower component was simplified over time into 十. The core meaning 'morning, early' has remained stable since oracle bone script.
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.