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明 (míng): The Chinese Character for bright / clear

míng

bright / clear

明 means “bright / clear” in Chinese. It is pronounced míng. Listen to the sound above, then learn an everyday use below.

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How to write 明

Expand to see the stroke order.

Mainland simplified · GF 0023—2020. Data ©1999 Arphic / ©2016 Shaunak Kishore (APL): freely redistributable, no warranty. Animation: Hanzi Writer (MIT). Licenses & sources

明

One way to use 明.

明 (míng) means bright / clear. In 明亮 (míng liàng), it helps describe bright / well-lit. 明亮 describes a place with plenty of light. No historical origin is inferred from the modern shape of 明. Example sentence: 这里很明亮。 Zhè lǐ hěn míng liàng. — It is bright here.

明亮míng liàngbright / well-lit

Remember 明 Through a Story: When the Curtain Moved

1 min illustrated story · A fictional memory aid for 明

When the Curtain Moved, scene 1: Alex spread a folded walking map across Lin’s table.
01

Alex spread a folded walking map across Lin’s table. They wanted a route beside the river, away from the busy road. In the dim corner, two thin lines on the paper looked almost the same. He tilted the map toward the ceiling lamp.

When the Curtain Moved, scene 2: Lin was sorting a box of pencils beside the window.
02

Lin was sorting a box of pencils beside the window. She noticed him leaning closer and reached for the heavy curtain. It had been closed earlier to keep sunlight off her drawing paper. She pulled it aside.

When the Curtain Moved, scene 3: Daylight spread across the table.
03

Daylight spread across the table. Alex could now see the narrow footpath beside the wider road. Lin moved the pencil box out of the light and traced the path with one finger, stopping at a small bridge.

When the Curtain Moved, scene 4: They folded the map with the river section facing out.
04

They folded the map with the river section facing out. Alex left the ceiling lamp off; the room was bright enough without it. Lin picked up her keys, and they went to try the route they could finally see clearly.

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