时隔
shí gé · HSK 7
separated in time (usu. followed by a quantity of time)
⏳ 时 time + 隔 apart = a gap of time separating two events
时 is time and 隔 means to separate or be apart. 时隔 marks how much time stands between then and now, and is usually followed by a span like 时隔三年 meaning after a gap of three years.
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.
隔 — 阜 (mound 阝) + 鬲 (cauldron, phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The left element 阝 (mound/hill) suggests a barrier or separation, while 鬲 (an ancient three-legged cauldron) supplies the sound. The original sense of being blocked off by terrain extended to today's meanings of 'separate,' 'partition,' or 'at an interval.'