Where does “時間” come from?

時間 (Chinese) comes from Japanese 時間, from Middle Chinese じかん.

時間 (Chinese): time; free time; leisure; spare time

Definitions

  1. time; free time; leisure; spare time

Ancestry of “時間”, step by step

時間 traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Japanese 時間

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese時間time; hour; the hours or time when something...
2Middle Chineseじかん—

via Chinese 帶

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Chinese帶—
Every word from Middle Chinese じかん →Every word from Japanese 時間 →