刻 means "time"?

Question

I searched what this kanji means in jisho.org in this part of the song:

近づいて　全部月のせいに

刻は今　ここに満ちたり

So, My first result is 時 in this result show me another form for this kanji that is 刻【とき】

and the others results show me others meanings like 刻【こく】: archaic age , 刻【きざ】: scratch, etc

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 20 '20 at 06:47

6

To put it accurately, 刻【こく】 is the ancient unit of time, compared to hour before 24-hour system is introduced, and still remains in some words such as 時刻, 刻々, 刻限 etc.

For that reason, this kanji is sometimes employed in artistic writing when it explicitly refers to a "punctual" time rather than a "duration" time.

As for the practice putting unusual { kanji to word / reading to kanji }, see the following posts:

answered Apr 20 '20 at 06:47

broccoli facemask

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Fascinating. How long was this ancient unit of time? – wip Apr 20 '20 at 19:05
@wip That's the whole point. I think it fully worth another question. – broccoli facemask Apr 21 '20 at 11:48

刻 means "time"?

1 Answers1