Where does “十時” come from?

十時 (Japanese) comes from Japanese 時, from Old Japanese 時, from Old Japanese しだ — a time, circumstance, occasion.

十時 (Japanese): ten o'clock

Definitions

  1. ten o'clock

Ancestry of “十時”, step by step

十時 traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Japanese 時

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese時time; an event, case, occasion, moment; a...
2Old Japanese時a time, moment (in time), occasion
3Old Japaneseしだa time, circumstance, occasion

via Japanese 十

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese十ten, 10; a ten-year-old
2Middle Chinese十—
Every word from Old Japanese しだ →Every word from Old Japanese 時 →Every word from Japanese 時 →