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晷

guǐ
noun

Meanings

  1. 1 a sundial
  2. 2 the shadow cast by the sun; time

Examples

HSK 2
他忙得焚膏继晷。
Tā máng de féngāo-jìguǐ.
He was so busy he had not a moment's leisure.
HSK 5
博物馆院子里有一座古日晷。
Bówùguǎn yuànzi lǐ yǒu yí zuò gǔ rìguǐ.
There is an ancient sundial in the museum courtyard.

Tips

culture
晷 literally is the sun's shadow, so a 日晷 ('sun-shadow') is a sundial. By extension it means 'time', as in the idiom 焚膏继晷, 'burn oil to continue the daylight', i.e. to work day and night.

Components

radical
日 rì
sun
The sun 日 on top is doing real semantic work, a sundial measures time by the sun, and the word's core sense is 'the sun's shadow'.
phonetic
咎 jiù
fault; blame
咎 under the sun supplies the sound (shifted from jiù to guǐ); it adds no meaning, only the phonetic shape.

Stroke Order

晷 guǐ