時 meaning and stroke order
Time, season; period, era, age
How to write 時, stroke by stroke
10 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
- 1
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- 4
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- 10
Meaning of 時
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- o'clock
- time
- when
- hour
- season
- period
How 時 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Day.
日 gives the meaning and 寺 hints at the sound.
Radical: 日 (sun), shared by 116 characters on this site.
How to remember 時
時 is pictophonetic: 日 (sun, day) on the left gives the meaning, since people tracked time by the sun. 寺 (sì, temple) on the right hints at the sound, so picture a temple bell ringing the hours as the sun moves.
時 is the traditional form, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Mainland China writes it as 时. It rarely stands alone in speech and usually appears in words like 時候 (shíhou), 時間 (shíjiān) and 小時 (xiǎoshí). Example: 你什麼時候來？(Nǐ shénme shíhou lái?) When are you coming?
Common mistake: Learners often use 時間 (shíjiān) and 時候 (shíhou) interchangeably. 時間 is time as an amount (我沒有時間, I have no time), while 時候 marks a point in time (我小的時候, when I was little). Also keep the right side 寺 as written, with 土 on top of 寸, and do not confuse it with 待 (dài).
Common words with 時
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 時候 | shíhou | time; length of time | HSK 1 |
| 時間 | shíjiān | (concept of) time; (duration of) time | HSK 1 |
| 小時 | xiǎoshí | hour | HSK 1 |
| 有時 | yǒushí | sometimes; now and then | HSK 1 |
| 有時候 | yǒushíhou | sometimes | HSK 1 |
| 當時 | dāngshí | then; at that time | HSK 2 |
| 那時 | nà shí | then; at that time | HSK 2 |
| 同時 | tóngshí | at the same time; simultaneously | HSK 2 |
| 隨時 | suíshí | at any time; at all times; at the right time; whenever necessary | HSK 2 |
| 小時候 | xiǎoshíhou | in one's childhood | HSK 2 |
| 平時 | píngshí | ordinarily; in normal times | HSK 2 |
| 這時候 | zhè shíhou | HSK 2 | |
| 這時 | zhè shí | at this time; at this moment | HSK 2 |
| 那時候 | nà shíhou | at that time | HSK 2 |
Questions about 時
How many strokes are in 時?
時 is written with 10 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 時 mean?
時 (shí) means time, season; period, era, age. A common word with it is 时候 (shíhou), meaning "time; length of time".
How do you pronounce 時?
時 is pronounced shí, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 時?
The radical of 時 is 日, which carries the idea of "sun". Dictionaries list 時 under this radical.
What is the simplified form of 時?
時 is a traditional character. Its simplified form is 时, used in mainland China and Singapore.
How do you say o'clock versus hours with 時?
For clock time, spoken Chinese uses 點 (diǎn), as in 三點 (sān diǎn), three o'clock. For a duration, use 小時 (xiǎoshí), as in 三個小時 (sān gè xiǎoshí), three hours. 時 alone for o'clock appears mostly in formal writing, like 下午三時.
What is the difference between 有時 and 有時候?
Both mean sometimes and are interchangeable. 有時候 (yǒushíhou) is more common in everyday speech, while 有時 (yǒushí) is shorter and a bit more written in feel.