明

Tap the pinyin to hear it

bright; opposite: dark 暗[an4]; (of meaning) clear; to understand; next; public or open; wise; generic term for a sacrifice to the gods

Sound it out + =

Formation & memory

Break the character into parts you already know.

Ideographic compound (会意字)

The light of the sun 日 and moon 月

Components 日月

bright · Heisig RSH #21

sun + moon

Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.

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

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
明天	míng tiān	tomorrow
明白	míng bai	clear; obvious; unequivocal; sensible; reasonable; to understand; to realize
明年	míng nián	next year
不明不白	bù míng bù bái	(idiom) obscure; dubious; shady
明山区	Míng shān Qū	Mingshan, a district of Benxi City 本溪市[Ben3 xi1 Shi4], Liaoning
明水县	Míng shuǐ Xiàn	Mingshui, a county in Suihua City 綏化市\|绥化市[Sui2 hua4 Shi4], Heilongjiang
发明人	fā míng rén	inventor
高明区	Gāo míng Qū	Gaoming, a district of Foshan City 佛山市[Fo2 shan1 Shi4], Guangdong
不明	bù míng	not clear; unknown; to fail to understand
明子	míng zi	see 松明[song1 ming2]
明斯克	Míng sī kè	Minsk, capital of Belarus
明山	Míng shān	see 明山區\|明山区[Ming2 shan1 Qu1]
三明市	Sān míng Shì	Sanming, prefecture-level city in Fujian Province 福建省[Fu2 jian4 Sheng3]
明水	Míng shuǐ	see 明水縣\|明水县[Ming2 shui3 Xian4]
发明家	fā míng jiā	inventor
不明事理	bù míng shì lǐ	not understanding things (idiom); devoid of sense
明儿	míng r	(coll.) tomorrow; one of these days; some day
无明	wú míng	avidya (Buddhism); ignorance; delusion
天明	tiān míng	dawn; daybreak
南明区	Nán míng Qū	Nanming, a district of Guiyang City 貴陽市\|贵阳市[Gui4 yang2 Shi4], Guizhou

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

Character	Pinyin	Meaning
明 sound part	míng	bright, clear; to explain, to understand, to shed light
盟	méng	alliance, covenant; oath; to swear
萌	méng	bud, germ, sprout; to bud