Click the character to replay. Press Try drawing to write it yourself.
字源zìyuánEtymology & Structure
字源洞见 zìyuán dòngjiàn · Etymological Insight
时 is a phono-semantic compound: 日 rì (sun — the semantic component: the sun moves, time passes) combined with 寺 sì (phonetic approximation of the original Old Chinese pronunciation; 寺 also carries associations of regular, measured, institutionally governed activity — temples mark time with bells). The traditional form 時 preserves this structure identically, with 日 on top and 寺 below. The simplification to 时 compresses 寺 to 寸 cùn (inch; a small measure), which makes the etymology even more legible: sun + small measure = time as something parceled out by the sun's movement.
The semantic logic is direct: the sun is the original clock. Its arc across the sky divides the day into measurable intervals. 时 is not raw duration or formless eternity — it is time that has been divided, sequenced, and can be reckoned. This distinguishes 时 clearly from 天 tiān (sky, heaven, undifferentiated day), which gestures toward the whole canopy of existence. 时 is specific: a slot, a period, a turn.
In the classical texts, 时 carries moral weight that modern usage has partially lost. Confucius opened the Analects with 时: 学而时习之，不亦说乎 — "To learn and to practice it at the right times, is that not a pleasure?" The word 时 here means not just "sometimes" but "at the fitting moment" — which is its deepest classical meaning. The person who acts in accordance with the right time is, in Confucian ethics, a person of judgment. 时 is also one of the defining virtues attributed to Confucius in Mencius: 圣之时者也 — "the sage of timeliness." To be 时 — to be responsive to the moment — is the highest form of wisdom.
时间 vs 时候shíjiān vs shíhòuduration / abstract time vs. a point or period of time
N 名词 míngcí
This is the distinction that trips learners earliest. 时间 shíjiān (时 time + 间 interval, between) is time as an abstract dimension or measurable span — the stuff of which there is never enough. 时候 shíhòu (时 time + 候 a season, a period of waiting) is a point or period of time anchored to a particular event or condition — it answers the question "when?" and typically follows 的 or a subordinate clause.
辨析 biànxī · The Core Rule
时间 takes quantifiers (三个小时的时间 — three hours' worth of time) and appears in statements about time as a quantity. 时候 cannot be quantified — you cannot say *三个小时候. When asking "when?", always 什么时候. When complaining about not having enough, always 时间.
时代shídàiera; epoch; age; historical period
N 名词 míngcí
时 shí (time) + 代 dài (generation; to substitute; a dynasty). Time organized into named historical chapters — each 时代 has a distinct character that shaped the people who lived through it. Used both in academic history (汉朝时代, the Han era) and in broader cultural comment (网络时代, the internet age). The word carries a sense of collective belonging: you are marked by your 时代 in ways you cannot fully choose.
我们生活在一个变化很快的时代。
Wǒmen shēnghuó zài yīgè biànhuà hěn kuài de shídài.
The Tang dynasty was the golden age of Chinese poetry.
时代在变，我们也要跟着变。
Shídài zài biàn, wǒmen yě yào gēnzhe biàn.
The era is changing — we have to change with it.
词族 cízú · Word Family
时代感 shídàigǎn = a sense of the times; being contemporary. 划时代 huà shídài = epoch-making (lit. "dividing an era"). 与时俱进 yǔ shí jù jìn = to advance with the times (a key phrase in political and official discourse since 2002).
时机shíjīthe right moment; timing; an opportune occasion
N 名词 míngcí
时 shí (time) + 机 jī (machine; pivot; crucial moment; opportunity). This is the Confucian classical meaning of 时 made into a compound: not just any moment, but the moment that is ripe, when conditions align. 时机 is strategic time — the narrowing window before it closes. The word belongs to the vocabulary of decisions, investment, military thinking, and competitive planning.
时机成熟了。
Shíjī chéngshú le.
The moment has ripened. The timing is right.
我们要抓住这次时机。
Wǒmen yào zhuāzhù zhè cì shíjī.
We need to seize this opportunity.
错过了最好的时机。
Cuòguò le zuìhǎo de shíjī.
We missed the best window.
辨析 biànxī · 时机 vs 机会
机会 jīhuì (opportunity) is broader — any opening. 时机 is specifically about timing — the same opportunity exists, but only 时机 asks whether this is the right moment to act. You might have the 机会 to invest for years; the question is whether the 时机 is correct today.
时刻shíkèClock & Daily Time
几点 / X点jǐ diǎn / X diǎnwhat time / X o'clock
N 名词 míngcí
The standard clock system uses 点 diǎn (dot; a point on the dial) to state the hour, not 时. 几点 jǐ diǎn is the question ("what time?") and X点 is the answer. 时 appears in the formal register (三时, used in schedules and timetables) but colloquially the system runs entirely on 点. Minutes use 分 fēn; half-hours use 半 bàn.
现在几点？——三点半。
Xiànzài jǐ diǎn? — Sān diǎn bàn.
What time is it now? — Half past three.
会议八点开始。
Huìyì bā diǎn kāishǐ.
The meeting starts at eight o'clock.
差一刻七点。
Chà yī kè qī diǎn.
A quarter to seven. (lit. lacking a quarter-hour to seven)
语法 yǔfǎ · Time on the Clock
Full system: X点Y分 (X hours Y minutes). 半 bàn = half hour. 刻 kè = quarter hour. 差 chà = lacking, used for "to" (差五分八点 = five to eight). Formal written schedules may use 时 instead of 点: 18时30分 = 18:30.
Chinese divides the day into named bands anchored to 午 wǔ (noon, the moment of solar culmination — itself a 日-radical character). Everything before 午 is 上午 (above noon); everything after is 下午 (below noon). 早上 zǎoshang (early morning, roughly wake-up through 9am) and 晚上 wǎnshang (evening) are the bookends. 中午 zhōngwǔ is midday itself. 凌晨 língchén is the small hours before dawn.
早上好！
Zǎoshang hǎo!
Good morning! (early, before ~9am)
下午两点见。
Xiàwǔ liǎng diǎn jiàn.
See you at 2pm.
昨天晚上我没睡好。
Zuótiān wǎnshang wǒ méi shuì hǎo.
Last night I didn't sleep well.
辨析 biànxī · 早上 vs 上午
早上 = the early morning (waking through roughly 9am) — casual, sensory, tied to rising and breakfast. 上午 = the full forenoon (roughly 9am–noon) — scheduling language, more neutral. In greetings, 早上好 is early; after about 9am, switch to 上午好 in formal contexts or just say 你好.
小时xiǎoshíhour (the unit of duration)
N 名词 míngcí
小 xiǎo (small) + 时 shí (time). An hour is literally "a small unit of time" — 时 here carries its classical meaning of a defined interval. The character 时 once referred to the twelve two-hour 时辰 shíchen of the traditional day; when the Western sixty-minute hour was adopted, it became 小时 ("a small 时") to distinguish it from the older, larger divisions. 小时 is the standard modern word for a clock hour as duration. Do not confuse with 时间 (time as a resource) or 钟头 zhōngtóu (hour — colloquial synonym for 小时).
我等了两个小时。
Wǒ děng le liǎng gè xiǎoshí.
I waited two hours.
这部电影有两个半小时。
Zhè bù diànyǐng yǒu liǎng gè bàn xiǎoshí.
This film is two and a half hours long.
每天学一个小时的中文。
Měitiān xué yī gè xiǎoshí de Zhōngwén.
Study Chinese for one hour every day.
词族 cízú · The Hour Family
小时 = hour (duration, standard). 钟头 zhōngtóu = hour (colloquial synonym, northern Mandarin). 时辰 shíchen = traditional two-hour period (one of twelve in the classical day). 24小时 = twenty-four hours; used in contexts like 24小时营业 (open 24 hours).
X + 时X + shíThe Temporal Modifier Pattern
构词规律 gòucí guīlǜ · Pattern: X + 时 → temporal adverb or adjective有 yǒu (have/exist) + 时 = 有时 yǒushí (sometimes — time as an intermittent visitor) 当 dāng (at, during, the right moment) + 时 = 当时 dāngshí (at that time — a fixed point in the past) 随 suí (to follow, to go along with) + 时 = 随时 suíshí (at any time, whenever — following time wherever it goes) 及 jí (to reach, to be in time) + 时 = 及时 jíshí (in time; timely — reaching the moment before it passes) 同 tóng (together, same) + 时 = 同时 tóngshí (at the same time; simultaneously) 临 lín (to approach, to be on the verge of) + 时 = 临时 línshí (temporary; ad hoc — time that is just arriving and will soon leave) 准 zhǔn (accurate, on the mark) + 时 = 准时 zhǔnshí (on time; punctual — hitting the moment with precision)
Every compound names a different relationship to the moment: whether time comes intermittently, is fixed in the past, flows freely, is barely caught, overlaps with another event, is about to end, or is met exactly.
成语chéngyǔIdioms & Set Phrases
时不我待shí bù wǒ dàitime will not wait for me — seize the moment; there is no time to loseLit: time-not-me-wait. A classical inversion — the subject (时, time) is placed before the negation, with "me" as object, producing the archaic feel of a proverb. The phrase frames time as an agent with no personal loyalty: it moves whether you are ready or not. Used in motivational and literary contexts to stress urgency. 时不我待，我们要马上行动。(Time won't wait — we must act immediately.) Compare: 机不可失，时不再来 jī bù kě shī, shí bù zài lái — "the opportunity cannot be missed; time does not come again."
岁月不饶人suìyuè bù ráo rénthe years spare no one — time is merciless; age catches up with everyone岁月 suìyuè (years and months — a classical compound for the flow of time) + 不饶 bù ráo (shows no mercy, does not spare). A cousin-phrase to 时不我待, but the mood is different: less urgent, more resigned. Where 时不我待 urges action, 岁月不饶人 acknowledges what cannot be undone. Common when observing that someone has aged, or reflecting on the passage of one's own youth. 岁月不饶人，我也老了。(The years spare no one — I've grown old too.)
时过境迁shí guò jìng qiāntime passes, circumstances change — things are different now; that was then时过 (time has passed) + 境迁 (the situation has shifted — 境 jìng: circumstances, context; 迁 qiān: to move, to change). Used to acknowledge that what was true, appropriate, or possible in the past no longer applies — without judgment, simply as a statement of temporal fact. It can carry nostalgia or pragmatic acceptance depending on context. 时过境迁，那个时代的方法现在已经不管用了。(Times have changed; the methods of that era simply don't apply anymore.)
相邻词汇xiānglín cíhuìAdjacent Vocabulary
时间shíjiāntime (duration)时候shíhòua point in time时代shídàiera; epoch天tiānsky; day; heaven年niányear月yuèmonth; moon日rìsun; day; date钟zhōngclock; bell分钟fēnzhōngminute秒miǎosecond (time)节气jiéqìsolar term季节jìjiéseason历史lìshǐhistory
记忆法 jìyìfǎ · Master Retention Image
Six brushstrokes — a sun over a measured space. The simplest possible account of what time is: the sun moving across a regulated interval. 时 does not mean the infinite river of time; it means time as it is actually experienced by human beings — cut into portions, made legible, made usable.
The classical weight of 时 is inseparable from the Chinese vocabulary of right action. Mencius called Confucius 圣之时者 — the sage of timeliness — which is a stranger compliment than it appears in translation. It means that Confucius could read the situation and act when the moment required action, stop when it required silence, and leave when it required departure. 时 is not just clock-time or historical time; it is the perceptual skill of registering where you are in the flow of events and responding correctly. This is why 时机 (the right moment) and 及时 (getting there in time) carry urgency, and why 临时 (temporary) and 有时 (sometimes) carry impermanence — 时 is always the moment relative to the person who must act in it.
时 is also the first temporal character most learners encounter at the deepest level of confusion: 时间 or 时候? The answer the grammar books give is true but incomplete. 时间 is time as stuff — quantifiable, expendable, something you have or don't have. 时候 is time as occasion — a moment anchored to an event, inseparable from what happens in it. The distinction matters because the Chinese conception of time runs through both channels: time as resource (always scarce) and time as season (always specific). 时 holds both.