时装
shí zhuāng · HSK 6
fashionable clothes
👗 时装 = time + clothing — the clothes that define an era
Fashion is literally clothing of the times. Each era gets its signature style — bell-bottoms for the 70s, shoulder pads for the 80s. The word captures that tight link between style and moment.
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.
装 — clothes 衣 + strong 壮 (phonetic)
装 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The bottom 衣 ('clothes') gives the meaning, since the original sense was packing or dressing—putting clothes or goods into a bundle. The top 壮 supplies the sound. Meanings extended from 'to dress/attire' to 'to load, install, pretend'.