The word "霎时" means "instant" or "moment". It is formed by combining the character "霎", which itself is composed of the rain radical (雨) over the component "妾", with the character "时", composed of the sun radical (日) beside "寺". Here, "霎" conveys brevity or suddenness, while "时" explicitly refers to time, resulting in a compound that denotes a very short period of time.