立时 (lì shí) — immediately; at once | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Literary 'immediately, at once' — stronger and more written-sounding than 立刻, and a step more formal than 马上.

adverb

immediatelyat once

Easily confused

，立时。
Tīng dào zhè ge xiāo xi, tā lì shí míng bai le.
Upon hearing this news, he understood immediately.
，立时。
Shì gù fā shēng zhī hòu, jiù yuán rén yuán lì shí gǎn dào xiàn chǎng.
After the accident occurred, rescue workers immediately rushed to the scene.
，立时。
Kàn dào duì fāng fèn nù de biǎo qíng, tā lì shí dào qiàn le.
Seeing the other person's angry expression, he apologized at once.

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.

立lìimmediate

立 (immediate) plus 时 (time) gives 'at once'.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

立 pictures a person standing on the ground.

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

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.