计时

• Pinyin: jì shí
• Hanzi breakdown: 计 = 讠+ 十 (to count/measure); 时 = 日 + 寸 (sun + inch — time)

Meaning

To time; to keep time. Refers to measuring or recording elapsed time, whether for sporting events, work, or processes.

Used in sports (timing races), labour (hourly wages — 计时工资), and technology (timers). 计时工 refers to an hourly worker.

Examples

1. 裁判员按下秒表，开始为运动员的百米冲刺计时。 The referee pressed the stopwatch and started timing the athletes’ 100-meter sprint.
2. 这家工厂采用计时制度，工人按实际工时领取报酬。 This factory uses an hourly system, and workers are paid based on the actual hours they work.
3. 实验室使用高精度仪器对反应过程进行计时记录。 The laboratory uses high-precision instruments to time and record the reaction process.

Usage Guide

Context: sports, labour, technology

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 国际田径联合会对竞速项目实施全自动计时系统，以确保成绩记录达到千分之一秒级别的精确度，从而消除人工操作带来的系统误差。(World Athletics implements a fully automated timing system for speed events to ensure that performance records attain a precision level of one-thousandth of a second, thereby eliminating systematic errors introduced by manual operation.)
• 平台经济催生了大量计时制灵活就业岗位，但由于工时难以核实，劳动者的合法权益保护面临较大挑战。(The platform economy has given rise to a large number of flexible employment positions based on hourly payment, yet because working hours are difficult to verify, protecting the legitimate rights and interests of workers faces considerable challenges.)

Don't Say

• 计时 vs 定时 — 计时 means to measure/record elapsed time; 定时 means to set a timer for a specific future moment; do not conflate the two

Origin & History

计 (count/measure) + 时 (time)

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal