明

See also: 日月

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

明 (Kangxi radical 72, 日+4, 8 strokes, cangjie input 日月 (AB), four-corner 6702₀, composition ⿰日月)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 491, character 12
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 13805
• Dae Jaweon: page 852, character 18
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1491, character 8
• Unihan data for U+660E

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Chinese

simp. and trad.		明
alternative forms		朙 眀 𤰾

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 明
Shang	Western Zhou	Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)		Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Ancient script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Characters in the same phonetic series (明) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
莔	*mraːŋ, *qʰɯd
明	*mraŋ
盟	*mraŋ, *mraːŋs
萌	*mreːŋ
奣	*ʔmraːŋʔ

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 日 (“sun”) + 月 (“moon”) – the sun just rising and the moon not yet set – dawn (天明). Alternatively, it may be interpreted as two bright celestial bodies – bright. This form was already found in the oracle bone script and was prevalent throughout the eras.

Three other forms were found in the oracle bone script:

• 朙 < 囧 (“window”) + 月 – the moon shining through a window – moonlight. This form was also prevalent in the ancient scripts and was considered to be the standard form in Shuowen. See this form's entry for its historical forms.
• 眀 < 目 (“eye”) + 月 – bright eyes. This form was rarely attested, so it is still uncertain whether this form is actually equivalent to 明. It reappeared in the bamboo script of the Qin dynasty, but this was probably a corruption of 朙.
• 𤰾 < 田 + 月 – probably a corruption of the above forms.

Etymology

Of either Proto-Sino-Tibetan origin, compare

• Tibetan མདངས (mdangs, “facial color, appearance, brightness”) (Bodman, 1980), or
• Proto-Sino-Tibetan *brwaŋ (“loud; bright”) (STDET); making it cognate with Burmese ပြင်း (prang:, “acute; violent”), Burmese ပြောင် (praung, “to shine”).

Or from Austroasiatic, cognate with 亮 (OC *raŋs, “bright”) (Schuessler, 2007). For more see *亮 (OC *raŋs).

盟 (OC *mraŋ, *mraːŋs, “covenant”) is a derivative (Schuessler, 2007).

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 明

1. bright; light; brilliant
2. clear; limpid
3. tomorrow
4. next; following
5. to understand

   講明／讲明  ―  jiǎngmíng  ―  to explain

   • 你唔明一定要出聲。 [Cantonese, trad.]
     你唔明一定要出声。 [Cantonese, simp.]

     nei⁵ m⁴ ming⁴ jat¹ ding⁶ jiu³ ceot¹ seng¹. [Jyutping]

     If you don't understand you must speak up.

   • 我真係唔係好明點解（……） [Cantonese, trad.]
     我真系唔系好明点解（……） [Cantonese, simp.]

     ngo⁵ zan¹ hai⁶ m⁴ hai⁶ hou² ming⁴ dim² gaai² (......) [Jyutping]

     I really don't get why (…)

6. (～朝) Ming dynasty
7. listed as #111 on the Baijiaxing
8. (～母) (phonology) a Middle Chinese initial and the 'Phags-pa script letter ꡏ (m-)

See also

Dynasties (朝代) in Chinese history
Name	Time period	Divisions
Xia 夏 (～朝, ～代)	2070 – 1600 BCE
Shang 商 (～朝, ～代) 殷 (～朝, ～代)	1600 – 1046 BCE
Zhou 周 (～朝, ～代)	1046 – 256 BCE	Western Zhou 西周
		Eastern Zhou 東周／东周	Spring and Autumn period 春秋
			Warring States period 戰國／战国
Qin 秦 (～朝, ～代)	221 – 206 BCE
Han 漢／汉 (～朝, ～代)	206 BCE – 220 C.E.	Western Han 西漢／西汉
		Xin 新 (～朝)
		Eastern Han 東漢／东汉
Three Kingdoms 三國／三国	220 – 280 C.E.	Wei 魏
		Shu Han 蜀漢／蜀汉
		Wu 吳／吴
Jin 晉／晋 (～朝, ～代)	265 – 420 C.E.	Western Jin 西晉／西晋
		Eastern Jin 東晉／东晋
Southern and Northern dynasties 南北朝	420 – 589 C.E.	Northern dynasties 北朝	Northern Wei 北魏
			Western Wei 西魏
			Eastern Wei 東魏／东魏
			Northern Zhou 北周
			Northern Qi 北齊／北齐
		Southern dynasties 南朝	Liu Song 劉宋／刘宋
			Southern Qi 南齊／南齐
			Liang 梁 (～朝, ～代)
			Chen 陳／陈 (～朝, ～代)
Sui 隋 (～朝, ～代)	581 – 618 C.E.
Tang 唐 (～朝, ～代)	618 – 907 C.E.
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms 五代十國／五代十国	907 – 960 C.E.
Liao 遼／辽 (～朝, ～代)	907 – 1125 C.E.
Song 宋 (～朝, ～代)	960 – 1279 C.E.	Northern Song 北宋
		Southern Song 南宋
Western Xia 西夏	1038 – 1227 C.E.
Jin 金 (～朝, ～代)	1115 – 1234 C.E.
Western Liao 西遼／西辽	1124 – 1218 C.E.
Yuan 元 (～朝, ～代)	1271 – 1368 C.E.
Ming 明 (～朝, ～代)	1368 – 1644 C.E.
Qing 清 (～朝, ～代)	1636 – 1912 C.E.

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (明):

• → Japanese: 明(みょう) (myō); 明(めい) (mei); 明(みん) (Min)
• → Korean: 명(明) (myeong)
• → Vietnamese: minh (明)

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Japanese

Kanji

明

(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

Readings

• Go-on: みょう (myō, Jōyō)^{←みやう (myau, historical)}
• Kan-on: めい (mei, Jōyō)
• Tō-on: みん (min)
• Kun: あかす (akasu, 明かす, Jōyō)、あからむ (akaramu, 明らむ, Jōyō)、あかり (akari, 明かり, Jōyō)、あかるい (akarui, 明るい, Jōyō)、あかるむ (akarumu, 明るむ, Jōyō)、あきらか (akiraka, 明らか, Jōyō)、あく (aku, 明く, Jōyō)、あくる (akuru, 明くる, Jōyō)、あける (akeru, 明ける, Jōyō)
• Nanori: あ (a)、あか (aka)、あかり (akari)、あかる (akaru)、あき (aki)、あきら (akira)、あけ (ake)、あける (akeru)、きよし (kiyoshi)、くに (kuni)、さとし (satoshi)、てる (teru)、とおる (tōru)、とし (toshi)、なお (nao)、のり (nori)、はじめ (hajime)、はる (haru)、ひろ (hiro)、み (mi)、みつ (mitsu)、よし (yoshi)

Compounds

Compounds

• 明後日(あさって) (asatte)
• 明日(あした) (ashita)
• 明日(あす) (asu)
• 明(あき)信(のぶ) (Akinobu)
• 明明後日(しあさって) (shiasatte)
• 明太(めんたい) (mentai)
• 克(かつ)明(あき) (Katsuaki)
• 松明(たいまつ) (taimatsu)

Etymology 1

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

From Middle Chinese 明 (MC mjaeng).

The 漢音 (kan'on, literally “Han sound”) reading, so likely a later borrowing from Middle Chinese.

Affix

明(めい) • (mei) 

1. bright, brightening
2. clarifying, understanding
3. brighten, enlighten
4. open to the world
5. deity, god

Derived terms

Derived terms

• 明(めい)暗(あん) (meian)
• 明(めい)快(かい) (meikai)
• 明(めい)解(かい) (meikai)
• 明(めい)海(かい) (meikai)
• 明(めい)確(かく) (meikaku)
• 明(めい)鏡(きょう) (meikyō)
• 明(めい)君(くん) (meikun)
• 明(めい)言(げん) (meigen)
• 明(めい)察(さつ) (meisatsu)
• 明(めい)示(じ) (meiji)
• 明(めい)治(じ) (Meiji)
• 明(めい)晰(せき) (meiseki)
• 明(めい)白(はく) (meihaku)
• 明(めい)瞭(りょう) (meiryō)
• 解(かい)明(めい) (kaimei)
• 究(きゅう)明(めい) (kyūmei)
• 克(こく)明(めい) (kokumei)
• 松(しょう)明(めい) (shōmei)
• 照(しょう)明(めい) (shōmei)
• 証(しょう)明(めい) (shōmei)
• 晨(しん)明(めい) (shinmei)
• 透(とう)明(めい) (tōmei)
• 薄(はく)明(めい) (hakumei)
• 発(はつ)明(めい) (hatsumei)
• 不(ふ)明(めい) (fumei)
• 文(ぶん)明(めい) (bunmei)

Noun

明(めい) • (mei) 

1. brightness
2. insight
3. eyesight, vision

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
明
みょう Grade: 2
goon

/mʲau/ → /mʲɔː/ → /mʲoː/

From Middle Chinese 明 (MC mjaeng).

The 呉音 (goon, literally “Wu sound”) reading, so likely the earlier borrowing from Middle Chinese.

The Buddhist senses are a translation of Sanskrit विद्या (vidyā, “knowledge, wisdom”).

Affix

明(みょう) • (myō) ^{←みやう (myau)?}

1. bright
2. light, lamp
3. clarifying
4. passing to the next in time
5. graceful, respectful
6. (Buddhism) passing of knowledge, scholarship, or study

Derived terms

Derived terms

• 明(みょう)鏡(きょう) (myōkyō)
• 明(みょう)後(ご)日(にち) (myōgonichi)
• 明(みょう)星(じょう) (myōjō)
• 明(みょう)朝(ちょう) (myōchō)
• 明(みょう)日(にち) (myōnichi)
• 明(みょう)明(みょう)後(ご)日(にち) (myōmyōgonichi)
• 灯(とう)明(みょう) (tōmyō)

Noun

明(みょう) • (myō) ^{←みやう (myau)?}

1. (Buddhism) knowledge or wisdom that dispels the darkness of ignorance and brings to the realization of truth
2. (Buddhism) an esoteric mantra

Adnominal

明(みょう) • (myō) ^{←みやう (myau)?}

1. this coming...

Etymology 3

Kanji in this term
明
みん Grade: 2
tōon

From Middle Chinese 明 (míng).

The 唐音 (tōon, literally “Tang sound”), so likely this reading was borrowed from around the Song dynasty.

Proper noun

明(みん) • (Min) 

1. the Ming dynasty (1368-1644)

Derived terms

• 明(みん)曲(きょく) (minkyoku)
• 明(みん)朝(ちょう) (Minchō)
• 明(みん)律(りつ) (minritsu)

Etymology 4

Kanji in this term
明
さや Grade: 2
irregular

For pronunciation and definitions of 明 – see the following entry: さや

(The following entry is uncreated: さや.)

Etymology 5

Kanji in this term
明
Grade: 2
nanori

Nominalization of the stem of adjective 明らか (akiraka, “clear, visible”).

Proper noun

明(あきら) • (Akira) 

1. a male given name

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Korean

Hanja

明 • (myeong) (hangeul 명, revised myeong, McCune–Reischauer myŏng, Yale myeng)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

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Kunigami

Kanji

明

• Kun: はか゚い (明か゚い, hakai)

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Miyako

Kanji

明

• Kun: あかーㇲ゙ (明かーㇲ゙, akaaz)

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Okinawan

Kanji

明

(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

Readings

• On (unclassified): みー (mī)
• Kun: あかい (akai, 明かい)

Compounds

• 清(しー)明(みー) (shīmī)
• 聡(すー)明(みー) (sūmī)

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Vietnamese

Han character

明: Hán Việt readings: minh (眉(mi)兵(binh)切(thiết))
明: Nôm readings: mừng, minh, mầng, miêng, mênh

1. chữ Hán form of minh (“bright; clear”).
2. chữ Hán form of Minh (“given name”).
3. Nôm form of mừng.

Compounds

• 明白 (minh bạch)
• 高明 (cao minh)

 

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Yaeyama

Kanji

明

• Kun: あかりぃ (明かりぃ, akarï)

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Yonaguni

Kanji

明

• Kun: あがい (明がい, agai)