The kanji 刻 primarily conveys the concept of "to carve," "to engrave," or "to cut." It also extends to signify "time" or "a moment," as when one carves markings to measure the passage of time. The core idea centers around making a mark or impression, whether on a physical object or as a division of time.

・On-yomi (音読み): コク (koku) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): きざ（む） (kiza(mu))

⚫︎時刻 Translation: time; hour; moment ⚫︎彫刻 Translation: sculpture; carving ⚫︎遅刻 Translation: lateness; being late

The kanji 刻 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字). The semantic component is 刂 (りっとう, katakana: リ, sword radical), which indicates a knife or cutting. The phonetic component is 亥 (がい, gai), which originally meant "pig" and later became associated with a specific time of day. Thus, the character suggests the act of cutting or marking with a knife to measure or represent time. Over time, the meaning broadened to include carving in general.