Example sentences
jǐ几diǎn点le了？
What time is it?
wǒ我men们sān三diǎn点jiàn见。
See you at three.
The story behind the character
点
点 is 占 plus four dots along the bottom. The traditional 點 was 黑 (black) with 占 supplying the sound, and Xu Shen glossed it as 小黑也, a small black spot. His definition of 黑 is the color of smoke from a fire, so the four dots at the base of 点 are what is left of the smoke. An o'clock, a dot, a little bit: same small mark on a surface.