这会儿
zhèhuìr · HSK 7
now
🕐 这 (this) + 会儿 (a moment/while) = this-moment = right now
会儿 (huìr) is the casual word for a short while or moment; tack on 这 (this) and you get this-very-moment, i.e. now. The -r ending marks it as relaxed, spoken Beijing-style speech.
这 — walk radical 辶 + speech 言
这 is the simplified form of 這. The traditional character combines the walk/movement radical 辶 with 言 (speech), originally meaning 'to meet' or 'to encounter on the way.' Over time it shifted to function as the demonstrative 'this,' likely through phonetic borrowing in vernacular Chinese.
会 — 人 person on top + 云 cloud/say below (simplified from 會)
The traditional form 會 showed a lid over a vessel with contents stacked inside, depicting things coming together — hence 'meet, gather, assemble.' From 'gathering' it extended to 'meeting,' then 'understand' (minds meeting) and 'be able to.' The simplified 会 keeps only a schematic top and bottom.