Learn one Chinese Character a day - 时 | 時

Current form for Oracle Script and Seal Script  is 时, whose Traditional version is 時. What is its meaning? 

From its Oracle Script - , it is composed of  (之 which originally means "the place where the foot stands") and  (日 which means "the sun"). So the aggregated meaning of  is then - "where the sun stands". 

During Seal Script period Chinese ancestors added to   and to create  . As we have learnt in our last lesson, one(寸) is around 3.33 cm. So the aggregated meaning of  is "where the sun stands after it moves a distance (寸)".

Almost all ancient civilisations on earth set up their time system based on the fixed routine of Sun. Chinese ancestors invented a clock system - equatorial sundial. A sundial is a device that tells the time of day by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky, details please find it at wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundial . The shadow of the pole decides which hour it is. Below is the image of an equatorial sundial in Forbidden City in Beijing:

Chinese Equatorial Sundial - 日晷

Chinese ancestors embedded this idea of “postion of the sun” into our character - 时 | 時, which is used to mean time. 

With Chinese Equatorial Sundial in mind, what does it mean by "the distance (寸) walked by the Sun (on the surface of Sundial)"? One hour exactly. That is why 时 | 時 is also used to mean hour.

As 时 | 時 has the original meaning of "where the sun stands", which contains the hinted meaning of current / latest. 

As usual let us examine its evolution history (image taken from http://vividict.com):

Learn one Chinese Character a day - 时 | 時

Now we have learnt the meaning of 时 | 時, let us enjoy a Chinese calligraphy with 时 | 時 inside to end our lesson today:

与时俱进