文明

Chinese

		language; culture; writing language; culture; writing; formal; literary; gentle	clear; bright; to understand clear; bright; to understand; next; the Ming dynasty
simp. and trad. (文明)		文	明
anagram		明文

Etymology

Wasei kango (和製漢語), orthographically borrowed from Japanese 文(ぶん)明(めい) (bunmei, “civilization”), which was in turn a semantic readaptation of Chinese 文明 (wénmíng, “elegance and brightness; being civilised and cultured”).

Noun

(deprecated template usage) 文明

1. civilization (Classifier: 個／个 m)

   中華文明／中华文明  ―  zhōnghuá wénmíng  ―  Chinese civilization

   書是傳遞文明的工具。 [MSC, trad.]
   书是传递文明的工具。 [MSC, simp.]

   Shū shì chuándì wénmíng de gōngjù. [Pinyin]

   Books are the way in which civilization is transmitted.

   人與其他生物最大的不同，就是擁有文明。 [MSC, trad.]
   人与其他生物最大的不同，就是拥有文明。 [MSC, simp.]

   Rén yǔ qítā shēngwù zuìdà de bùtóng, jiùshì yōngyǒu wénmíng. [Pinyin]

   The ability to develop civilizations is the biggest difference between humans and other living things.

2. civilized behaviour; manners

   加強文明意識／加强文明意识  ―  jiāqiáng wénmíng yìshí  ―  to improve people's awareness of civilized behaviour

Adjective

(deprecated template usage) 文明

1. civilized

   文明行為／文明行为  ―  wénmíng xíngwéi  ―  civilized behaviour

   文明交往  ―  wénmíng jiāowǎng  ―  to socialize in a civilized manner

   舉止文明／举止文明  ―  jǔzhǐ wénmíng  ―  to behave in a civilized manner

2. (dated) modern
3. (archaic) having literary talent

   • 其德剛健而文明，應乎天而時行。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
     其德刚健而文明，应乎天而时行。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: I Ching, 11^th – 8^th century BCE

     Qí dé gāngjiàn ér wénmíng, yìng hū tiān ér shí xíng. [Pinyin]

     The attributes (of its component trigrams) are strength and vigour with elegance and brightness. (The ruling line in it) responds to (the ruling line in the symbol of) heaven, and (consequently) its action is (all) at the proper times.

Antonyms

• (civilized): 野蠻／野蛮 (yěmán)

Descendants

• → Japanese: 文(ぶん)明(めい) (bunmei)

Derived terms

(deprecated template usage)

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Japanese

Kanji in this term
文	明
ぶん Grade: 1	めい Grade: 2
kan'on

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Middle Chinese 文明 (MC mjun mjaeng).

Pronunciation

• Homophones: 分明, 文名

Noun

文(ぶん)明(めい) • (bunmei) 

1. civilization

Derived terms

• 文(ぶん)明(めい)開(かい)化(か) (bunmeikaika)

Descendants

• → Chinese:: 文明 (wénmíng, “civilization”)
• → Korean: 문명 (munmyeong)
• → Vietnamese:: văn minh

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Korean

Hanja in this term
文	明

Noun

文明 • (munmyeong) (hangeul 문명)

1. hanja form^? of 문명 (“civilization”)

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Vietnamese

chữ Hán Nôm in this term
文	明

Adjective

文明

1. chữ Hán form of văn minh (“civilized”).