Sinograph Addenda · Signs

明bright · míng · bright; to shine, to understand

bright

Where it comes from

Sun beside moon: the two lights of the sky side by side, and the script’s textbook proof that characters are built from characters. From “bright” it grew the senses “to shine” and “to understand” — brightness of mind. Taught in the master’s chapter, the first compound in the course.

How to remember it

Everything the sky has to shine with, in one character — bright. If both lights are up at once, nothing stays dark.

In the wild