The kanji 季 primarily signifies "season" or "time of year." It represents a period within the annual cycle, marked by specific weather patterns and natural occurrences. It can also imply a specific time or juncture.

・On-yomi (音読み): キ (ki) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): None, or used as a component in longer words.

⚫︎ 季節（きせつ） Translation: season ⚫︎ 四季（しき） Translation: four seasons ⚫︎ 季節外れ（きせつはずれ） Translation: out of season

The kanji 季 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字). The left part is 禾 (koku), which means "grain" or "rice plant," and the right part is 子 (shi, meaning "child" or "seed"). This character was originally created to depict the growth cycle of plants and the agricultural time-keeping, hence the season. The upper portion, 禾, provides the meaning (semantic component), associating it with agricultural cycles. The lower portion 子 is phonetic, and contributes to the sound (phonetic component).