暗
Tap the pinyin to hear it
dark; to turn dark; secret; hidden; (literary) confused; ignorant
Formation & memory
Break the character into parts you already know.
Words with 暗
The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 暗无天日 | all black, no daylight (idiom); a world without justice | |
| 明里暗里 | both publicly and privately; both overtly and secretly; both explicitly and implicitly | |
| 暗花儿 | veiled design incised in porcelain or woven in fabric | |
| 暗地里 | secretly; inwardly; on the sly | |
| 明人不做暗事 | an honest person does not act surreptitiously (idiom) | |
| 黑暗时代 | Dark Ages | |
| 黑暗面 | (lit. and fig.) dark side | |
| 暗间儿 | inner room | |
| 暗公鸟 | black-crowned night heron (Tw) | |
| 暗中 | in the dark; in secret; on the sly; surreptitiously | |
| 暗地 | secretly; inwardly; on the sly | |
| 暗光鸟 | black-crowned night heron (Tw) | |
| 暗自 | inwardly; to oneself; secretly | |
| 暗记儿 | secret mark | |
| 发暗 | to darken; to become tarnished | |
| 暗物质 | (physics) dark matter | |
| 暗道 | secret passage; secret tunnel | |
| 暗里 | privately; secretly; behind closed doors | |
| 名重识暗 | of great reputation but shallow in knowledge (idiom) | |
| 暗合 | to agree implicitly; of one mind; views coincide without a word exchanged |
Sound family
Characters sharing the sound component 音 — compare how they read.
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 音 sound part | sound, tone, pitch, pronunciation | |
| 意 | thought, idea, opinion; desire, wish; meaning, intention | |
| 谙 | well-versed in, fully acquainted with | |
| 黯 | black; dark; sullen, dreary | |
| 窨 | cellar, storeroom | |
| 喑 | dumb, mute; the sobbing of an infant | |
| 戠 | sword; potter's clay; to gather | |
| 揞 | to cover, to conceal; to apply medicine or make-up | |
| 歆 | to like, to admire; willingly, gladly |