十时 (shí shí) — (formal) ten o'clock; 10:00 (used in schedules, timetables, or historical contexts)

Definition

A formal/literary way to say 'ten o'clock', used in timetables, schedules, and historical writing. In everyday speech, use 十点 instead.

noun
(formal) ten o'clock10:00 (used in schedules, timetables, or historical contexts)
Easily confused

Examples

  • 十时。
    Huǒ chē zài shí shí shí fēn chū fā.
    The train departs at 10:10.
  • 十时。
    Qǐng yú shí shí zhěng dào dá.
    Please arrive at exactly ten o'clock.
  • 十时。
    Bǐ sài jiāng zài shí shí zhèng shì kāi shǐ.
    The competition will officially start at ten o'clock.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

十shíten
时shíhour

The number 十 and 时 (hour) together give ten o'clock.

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

The early shape 十 was mostly a single vertical stroke, sometimes with a dot, and later gained a horizontal stroke to form a cross. For the number ten, it marked the next digit above one.

Open 十 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 時; 时 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
日日rìsun; day
Sound part声符shēngfú
之
之zhī時shí
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 時 pairs 日 (sun/day) with 之 as the part that gives the sound; the simplified 时 is not the form described.

Open 时 →

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