About
The character "霎" is a phono-semantic compound formed from the semantic component "雨", meaning rain, and the phonetic component "妾", which historically indicated its pronunciation. Its original sense referred to a light, fleeting drizzle, but over time, this concrete imagery of transient rainfall was metaphorically extended to denote an extremely brief moment or instant. This semantic shift from describing a meteorological phenomenon to expressing a temporal concept demonstrates a common linguistic pattern where tangible natural events are used to articulate abstract measurements of time. The character's structure has remained unchanged, and its contemporary usage consistently conveys sudden brevity, as seen in compounds like "霎时" for "instantly".
Etymology Hide
Example Sentences Hide
霎时天晴了。
霎时间雨停了。
他一霎那就明白了。
霎时全场寂静。
天空霎时变得漆黑。
就在那一霎间，事故发生了。
灯光霎时闪烁，然后熄灭了。
他思绪万千，但霎时间便做出了决定。