顷 qǐng a moment
How it came to be
The spoon block, here a person bending, with a head beside it. A head tipped to one side: the time that takes is the moment the character names.
How it is used
- An area unit (100 亩, about 6.7 hectares): 公顷 (gōngqǐng) hectare - the standard land-measure word.
- Also 'a short moment': 顷刻 (qǐngkè) in an instant - 顷刻之间 (qǐngkè zhī jiān) in the blink of an eye.
- So two unrelated jobs: land area (公顷) and a brief instant (顷刻).