暑期
shǔ qī · HSK 7
summer vacation time
🏖️☀️ 暑 (heat) + 期 (period) = the hot-weather period, i.e. summer break
暑 means summer heat (same 暑 as in 中暑, heatstroke); 期 means a fixed term or period (as in 学期, semester). Together: the heat-period, the stretch of summer when school is out.
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.