秋季
qiū jì · HSK 4
autumn
🍂 秋 = autumn + 季 = season
秋 means autumn (the harvest season, with 禾 'grain' on the left). 季 means season or period. Together 秋季 literally reads as autumn-season, the standard term for the fall quarter of the year.
季 — grain 禾 on top + child 子 below
Originally an associative compound showing young grain (禾) and a child (子), suggesting a young or immature crop. From this it came to mean 'youngest' among siblings, then a season or quarter of the year — a recurring period like a harvest cycle. Today it mostly means 'season' or a surname.