青春期
qīng chūn qī · HSK 7
adolescence
🌱 青春 youth (青 green + 春 spring) + 期 period = the youth period: puberty
青 green/blue + 春 spring together mean youth or springtime of life; 期 marks a phase or period. So 青春期 is literally the youth-phase — the green-spring stretch of growing up, i.e. adolescence.
青 — 生 (growth/sprout) on top + 丹 (well/cinnabar) below
青 originally depicted young plants (生) growing above a mineral pit (丹, cinnabar well), suggesting the fresh blue-green color of new growth and natural pigments. Over time it came to cover a range of cool colors—green, blue, and even black—and by extension means 'young' or 'youthful.'
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.