近代
きんだい · kindai · JLPT N3 · noun
modern times
🚂🏭 近代 = near (近) + era (代): the era close to our own
近 means near and 代 means generation or era, so 近代 is the recent age. In Japanese history it usually means the Meiji era up to 1945, when railways and factories arrived. Compare 現代 (gendai), the present day.
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.