才
cái
才 is the long blank stretch before you arrive
The picture A long empty stretch of road before the destination. Waiting, conditions, wrong turns: you get there only after crossing all of it. 才 is a long blank laid between two dots, 就 is the two dots pressed together: 八点才来 is not until eight, 八点就来了 is already by eight.
Where the picture shows up in 才
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a long blank on the clock
他八点才来。
tā bā diǎn cái lái
He did not show up until eight.
From six to eight there is only an empty chair, and not until the eight o'clock mark does he push the door open.
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waiting as the blank
我等了一个小时才见到医生。
wǒ děng le yí ge xiǎoshí cái jiàn dào yīshēng
I waited an hour before I finally saw the doctor.
The number board in the waiting room creeps forward for a whole hour before your number finally lights up.
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a condition as the blank
只有你来了我才放心。
zhǐyǒu nǐ lái le wǒ cái fàngxīn
I will not relax until you are here.
Your eyes keep going to the door, and only once you walk in do the shoulders drop.
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what turns up after the wrong turns
这才是重点。
zhè cái shì zhòngdiǎn
This is the real point.
Page after wrong page is turned before the underlined line finally shows up on the very last sheet.
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falling short of the mark
他才十六岁。
tā cái shíliù suì
He is only sixteen.
On the height marks drawn up the wall, his head is still well below the line.
才 rarely takes 了 after it. 他八点才来了 sounds wrong; 他八点才来 is what people say.
All of it in one picture
Two hours of empty chair is a long blank on the clock; a number board creeping for an hour is waiting as the blank. Shoulders that drop only when you walk in is a condition as the blank, the underlined line at the bottom of the pile is what turns up after the wrong turns, and a head below the mark is a blank still short of the line. All five show you the empty stretch that had to be crossed before arriving. So read 才 not as a sigh meaning only, but as a sign that a blank came first.