The word 时常 (shícháng), meaning "often" or "frequently", is a compound formed by combining two synonymous or semantically reinforcing characters: 时 (shí), which denotes "time", "moment", or "season", and 常 (cháng), which means "constant", "regular", or "usual". Together, they create an adverbial concept that literally suggests "at constant times" or "regularly in time", where 时 provides the temporal framework and 常 adds the notion of habitual recurrence. This formation follows a common pattern in Chinese where two related morphemes are joined to express an abstract adverbial meaning more precisely than either could alone.