現在
げんざい · genzai · JLPT N3 · noun
now
⏰ 現 appear + 在 exist = what has shown up and is here: the present
現 (gen) means to appear or be visible, as in 現金 genkin, cash on hand. 在 (zai) means to exist or be located, as in 存在 sonzai. Whatever has appeared and still exists is happening now. It's more formal than 今 (いま).
在 — earth 土 + phonetic 才
Originally a phono-semantic compound: 土 (earth) gives the meaning of a place or location, while 才 supplies the sound. It came to mean 'to be present/located at,' and now also serves as a grammatical marker for ongoing actions, like 'in the middle of doing.'