立刻
lìkè · HSK 3
at once
⚡ 立 = stand + 刻 = carve/moment; stand at this carved moment = right now
立 means to stand or set up; 刻 means a carved mark, and by extension a moment in time (it once meant a notch on a water clock). Together: standing at this exact moment — immediately, at once.
立 — person standing on ground (大 over 一)
Pictograph of a person standing with arms outstretched on the ground line below. The original oracle bone form clearly shows a frontal human figure planted on the earth. The core meaning 'to stand' extended to 'establish, set up, erect.'
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'.