时刻
shíkè · HSK 3
moment
⏰ 时 = time + 刻 = carve; a carved-out slice of time = a moment
时 means time (sun radical 日 + 寸 measure). 刻 means to carve or engrave (亥 phonetic + 刂 knife). Together: a moment carved out of time, like notches cut into a sundial to mark each juncture.
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.
刻 — knife radical 刂 + 亥 (phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The right side 亥 supplies the sound, while the knife radical 刂 on the right gives the meaning, since 刻 originally referred to carving or engraving with a blade. From 'to carve' it extended to marking time notches on a sundial, hence the modern sense of 'a moment' or 'quarter hour'.