顷刻间 (qǐng kè jiān) — in an instant, in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye

Definition

A literary noun for an extremely short span of time — "in an instant," emphasizing how quickly something happened. Reads as written/formal register, not everyday speech.

noun
in an instantin a flashin the twinkling of an eye

Examples

  • ，顷刻间。
    Gāng cái hái qíng kōng wàn lǐ, qǐng kè jiān jiù xià qǐ le dà yǔ.
    It was clear blue skies just a moment ago, and then it started pouring in an instant.
  • 顷刻间。
    Tā qǐng kè jiān xiāo shī zài rén qún zhōng.
    He vanished into the crowd in an instant.
  • 顷刻间。
    Zhè ge xiāo xi qǐng kè jiān chuán biàn le zhěng gè chéng shì.
    The news spread throughout the entire city in an instant.

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.

顷刻moment
顷qǐngshort while刻kèmoment
联合Side by side
间jiāntime

'顷刻' gives the idea of a brief moment and '间' marks time, so it means within an instant.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 頃; 顷 is its simplified writing.

  • 匕匕bǐ
  • 頁頁yèhead

The traditional form 頃 combines 頁, a head, with 匕; it pictures a head tilted sideways.

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
刂Written in full as刀dāo
Sound part声符shēngfú
亥
亥hài刻kè
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

刻 is made of 刂, a form of 刀 (knife), and 亥, which gives the sound.

Open 刻 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 间 →

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