明白

Japanese

Kanji in this term
明	白

Adjectival noun

明白 (な-na inflection, hiragana めいはく, romaji meihaku)

1. clear

   明白な安保理決議違反だ。

   めいはくなあんぽりけつぎいはんだ。
   meihaku na anpori ketsugi ihan da.

   It is a clear violation of Security Council resolutions.

Inflection

Inflection of "明白な"

Stem forms	Imperfective (未然形)	明白だろ	めいはくだろ	meihaku daro
	Continuative (連用形)	明白で	めいはくで	meihaku de
	Terminal (終止形)	明白だ	めいはくだ	meihaku da
	Attributive (連体形)	明白な	めいはくな	meihaku na
	Hypothetical (仮定形)	明白なら	めいはくなら	meihaku nara
	Imperative (命令形)	明白であれ	めいはくであれ	meihaku de are
Key constructions	Informal negative	明白ではない 明白じゃない	めいはくではない めいはくじゃない	meihaku dewa nai meihaku ja nai
	Informal past	明白だった	めいはくだった	meihaku datta
	Informal negative past	明白ではなかった 明白じゃなかった	めいはくではなかった めいはくじゃなかった	meihaku dewa nakatta meihaku ja nakatta
	Formal	明白です	めいはくです	meihaku desu
	Formal negative	明白ではありません 明白じゃありません	めいはくではありません めいはくじゃありません	meihaku dewa arimasen meihaku ja arimasen
	Formal past	明白でした	めいはくでした	meihaku deshita
	Formal negative past	明白ではありませんでした 明白じゃありませんでした	めいはくではありませんでした めいはくじゃありませんでした	meihaku dewa arimasen deshita meihaku ja arimasen deshita
	Conjunctive	明白で	めいはくで	meihaku de
	Conditional	明白なら(ば)	めいはくなら(ば)	meihaku nara(ba)
	Provisional	明白だったら	めいはくだったら	meihaku dattara
	Volitional	明白だろう	めいはくだろう	meihaku darō
	Adverbial	明白に	めいはくに	meihaku ni
	Degree	明白さ	めいはくさ	meihakusa

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Mandarin

simpl. and trad.
明白

Etymology

A compound of 明 (míng, Old Chinese *mraŋ (Zhengzhang Shangfang), "to be bright > clear") and 白 (bái, OC *braːg, "to be white > clean, bright"). Attested in Zhuangzi ("clear and clean"), Chu Ci ("bright and clean"), Mozi ("to be evident, clear"), Tao Te Ching ("to know, to understand").

Pronunciation

• (Beijing) IPA: /mp/

In Beijing Mandarin, the second syllable 白 has been completely reduced to a toneless syllable, as with many other words with second-tone final syllables (暖和, 衣服). The tendency to dissimilate from the previous second-tone syllable also contributed to this reduction. Speakers with Southern accents often fail to pronounce it as toneless, and pronounce it as míngbái instead.

Verb

明白 (traditional and simplified, Pinyin míngbai)

1. to understand, to know
   • 我講的話你明白了嗎？ / 我讲的话你明白了吗？

     Do you understand what I said?

   • 你在想什麼，我心裡全明白。 / 你在想什么，我心里全明白。

     I know for sure what you are thinking.

Usage notes

• Used to express understanding of a meaning or a situation. To express an ability to understand a language, see 會說/会说 (huì shuō), 聽懂/听懂 (tīngdǒng) or 看懂 (kàndǒng).

Adjective

明白 (traditional and simplified, Pinyin míngbai)

1. clear, obvious, evident
2. open, frank, explicit
3. sensible, reasonable

Adverb

明白 (traditional and simplified, Pinyin míngbai)

1. clearly, obviously
2. explicitly, unequivocally

Synonyms

• (to understand) 了解 (liǎojiě), 知道 (zhīdao), 懂 (dǒng), 清楚 (qīngchu)
• (clear, obvious) 清楚 (qīngchu), 明確/明确 (míngquè), 分明 (fēnmíng)
• (explicitly) 公開/公开 (gōngkāi), 直接 (zhíjiē)

References

• 1997, Jerome P. Keuper, Chinese 1000: Idiomatic and Colloquial Expressions (中国话：习惯用法和口语的表达法) (in English/Mandarin), Florida: Krieger Publishing Company, ISBN 1-57524-006-8:

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Min Nan

simpl. and trad.
明白

Pronunciation

• IPA: [ biŋ˨˩pɪk˥˥ ]

Verb

明白 (traditional and simplified, POJ bêng-pe̍k)

1. to know; to understand

References

• "明白" (in Min Nan/English), 台文華文線上辭典. URL accessed on 2011-05-15.