日

Tap the pinyin to hear it

(bound form) sun; day; day of the month; (bound form) Japan (abbr. for 日本[Ri4 ben3]); (vulgar) to fuck; to have sex with

Sound it out + =

Formation & memory

Break the character into parts you already know.

Pictograph (象形字)

The sun

Components 口一

day · Heisig RSH #12

— as a component also called: sun, day, tongue wagging in the mouth

Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.

The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
生日	shēng rì	birthday; CL:個\|个[ge4]
星期日	Xīng qī rì	Sunday
日期	rì qī	date
小日子	xiǎo rì zi	simple life; (Internet slang) euphemistic substitute for 日本[Ri4 ben3] or 日本人[Ri4 ben3 ren2…
不日	bù rì	within the next few days; in a few days time
日子	rì zi	day; a (calendar) date; days of one's life
日人	Rì rén	Japanese person; the Japanese
日电电子	Rì diàn diàn zǐ	NEC (Nippon Electronic Company)
日头	rì tóu	sun (dialect); daytime; date
中日	Zhōng Rì	China-Japan
日中	Rì Zhōng	Japan-China
日中	rì zhōng	noon; midday; zenith
主日学	zhǔ rì xué	Sunday School
海日	hǎi rì	(literary) the sun over the sea
白日	bái rì	daytime; sun; time
化日	huà rì	sunlight; daytime
日化	rì huà	household chemicals (cleaning products etc) and toiletries (abbr. for 日用化學製品\|日用化学制品[ri4 yo…
光天化日	guāng tiān huà rì	the full light of day (idiom); fig. peace and prosperity; in broad daylight
一日不如一日	yī rì bù rú yī rì	to be getting worse by the day
克日	kè rì	to set a date; to set a time frame; within a certain time limit

These characters use 日 as their sound component — compare how they read.

Character	Pinyin	Meaning
日 sound part	rì	sun; day; daytime
耆	qí	man of sixty; aged, old
汨	mì	to sink; a river in Hunan where Qu Yuan drowned himself
蹋	tà	to step on, to tread on
遢	tā	careless, negligent, slipshod