近代
jìn dài · HSK 4
modern times
🕰️ 近代 = near + era; the 'near' era close to now, modern times
近 (jìn) means near or close; 代 (dài) means era or generation. Together: the era near to ours — modern times. In Chinese history specifically, the span from the Opium Wars (1840s) to the May 4th Movement (1919).
近 — 辶 (walk) + 斤 (axe, phonetic)
近 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The 辶 radical signals movement or distance, while 斤 (axe) supplies the sound. Together they convey the idea of a short distance to walk, hence 'near' or 'close'.
代 — person radical 亻 + 弋 (stake/dart, phonetic)
代 is a semantic-phonetic compound: 亻 (person) gives the meaning and 弋 supplies the sound. The original sense was one person taking the place of another, which broadened to 'substitute,' 'replace,' and then 'generation' or 'era' — successive groups of people replacing the previous.