更ける
ふける · fukeru · JLPT N2 · verb-ichidan
to wear on
🌙 更 means late, as in 夜更かし (staying up late); 更ける = the night grows late
The kanji 更 carries the sense of change or lateness. 夜が更ける means the night wears on as time moves toward midnight, so the hook is 更 = late.
更 — 丙 (bǐng) phonetic + 攴/攵 (action/strike)
Originally an oracle-bone graph showing a hand striking a watch-drum to mark night watches, hence 'to change shifts.' From this came the meanings 'to change' and 'to replace' (gēng). The reading gèng later developed the sense 'further, even more,' as in 'one watch further on.'