jiān

between

among; within a definite time or space; room; section of a room or lateral space between two pairs of pillars; classifier for rooms

gate (门) + sun (日) = the space between, lit from within

A door with sunlight streaming through the gap captures the essence of 'between' — the lit space in the doorway is literally the interval or room created by the structure. This spatial idea extends naturally to time intervals and physical rooms.

+
SunSemantic
GateSemantic

Words with 间

在这期间

zài zhè qī jiān

during time

适间

shì jiān

just now; just a moment ago

乡间

xiāng jiān

in the country

双人间

shuāng rén jiān

double room (hotel)

铸工车间

zhù gōng chē jiān

foundry (workshop or factory)

闭区间

bì qū jiān

closed interval (in calculus)

开区间

kāi qū jiān

open interval (in calculus)

开房间

kāi fáng jiān

to rent a room in a hotel

开间

kāi jiān

unit for the width of a room, equal to the standard width of a room in an old-style house – about 10 chi 尺[chi3]

间不容发

jiān bù róng fà

(to escape danger etc) by a hair's breadth (idiom)

间作

jiàn zuò

interplanting

间使

jiàn shǐ

secret envoy

More characters with 门