Several parts combine into one character.

Phonetic-semantic compound (形聲字): 日 (sun) + 寺 (temple / office, providing the sound). Before clocks, the sun's position WAS the time — and 寺 in this character is purely phonetic, lending its sound to the new compound. The encoded definition is "what we read off the sun's position".

Three forms: 繁體 時 / 新字体 時 / 简体 时 (the right side simplifies to 寸).

Mandarin: shí, rising 2nd tone. 时间 (shíjiān, time — abstract concept), 小时 (xiǎoshí, hour — "small time"), 时候 (shíhou, moment / time when), 有时 (yǒushí, sometimes), 当时 (dāngshí, at that time), 同时 (tóngshí, at the same time), 时差 (shíchā, jet lag — "time difference"). The Mandarin word for "hour" being literally "small time" is one of the cleanest semantic transparencies in the language.

Japanese: on-reading ジ (ji) for clock-time and compound counting — 時間 (jikan, time / hours), 三時 (sanji, three o'clock), 時刻 (jikoku, exact time), 当時 (tōji, at that time). Kun-reading とき (toki) is the everyday word for "occasion / when" — その時 (sono toki, at that moment), 時々 (tokidoki, sometimes — note the doubling marker 々 means repeat the previous character). The compound 時計 reads とけい (tokei, watch / clock) — both characters are pronounced via kun-reading in this irregular but extremely common compound.

The Mandarin 时候 (shíhou) and Japanese 時 (toki) both function as relativizers — "the time when ~" — and are central to the grammar of complex sentences. Mastering them is a first-year priority.

Memory aid: sun + temple-bell. The sun tells the time; the temple rings the hour.