miǎo

second (time), beard of grain or corn

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components
禾 meaning component

  Meaning component

  

grain stalk

少 sound component

  Sound component

shǎoshào

  

few

Evolution

秒 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
秒 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

 

miǎo

beard of grain or corn; a second; second (unit of time); arc second (angular measurement unit); (coll.) instantly

Most common words with 秒
Freq.
Word
Meaning

second (unit of time)

秒钟

(time) second

争分夺秒

making every second count

秒表

stopwatch

分秒必争

every moment counts