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The classical character 晷 combines the sun radical 日 with the phonetic 咎 (jiù) to form a phono-semantic compound. Its earliest meaning is the shadow cast by the sun, which then led to the word for sundial, an astronomical instrument that tells time by that shadow. With 日 above suggesting solar movement and daylight, and 咎 below supplying the sound, the character's semantic range broadened in literature to denote time itself or a part of the day, often emphasizing the swift, ephemeral quality of daylight.
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