How to write 明 (míng, “bright”)

明 (míng), an HSK 1 character, means “bright”, “opposite: dark 暗” and “clear”. It is a character whose parts combine into its meaning. Among the HSK words it appears in 明天 (“tomorrow”), 明年 (“next year”) and 明白 (“clear”). Japanese reads it mei, “bright”, as a JLPT N4 kanji.

Pinyin: míng
Strokes: 8
HSK: 1
Radical: 日 (“sun”)

Stroke by stroke

As a left-right character it splits into 日 (“sun”, the radical), strokes 1–4; 月 (“moon or flesh”), strokes 5–8, written the left part first.

Vertical ㇑top leftdownwards
Horizontal-turn ㇕top leftrightwards → downwards
Horizontal ㇐leftrightwards
Horizontal ㇐leftrightwards
Vertical then left-falling ㇓topdownwards → down and left
Horizontal-turn-hook ㇆toprightwards → downwards
Horizontal ㇐toprightwards
Horizontal ㇐centerrightwards

Names of the strokes

Japanese and Chinese

Japanese and Chinese draw all 8 strokes in the same order and direction, by our stroke-by-stroke comparison.

Japanese · KanjiVG · 8 strokes

Chinese · Make Me a Hanzi · 8 strokes

Where 明 comes from

The light of the sun 日 and moon 月

Trace it

Follow the numbers. Tracing help

Pinyin and meaning

Pinyin	Meanings	Traditional	In words
míng second tone	bright; opposite: dark 暗 (àn); (of meaning) clear; to understand; next	—	明天明年明白说明

HSK 2025 syllabus: level 1
2021 standard: level 1
HSK 2.0: in a level 1 word
Words with it: 268 in CC-CEDICT

Words with 明

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
明天	míngtiān	tomorrow HSK 1
明年	míngnián	next year HSK 1
明白	míngbai	clear; obvious HSK 3
聪明聰明	cōngmíng	intelligent; clever HSK 3
说明說明	shuōmíng	to explain; to illustrate HSK 4
说明书說明書	shuōmíngshū	(technical) manual; (book of) directions HSK 4
证明證明	zhèngmíng	proof; certificate HSK 4
明星	míngxīng	star; celebrity HSK 5
表明	biǎomíng	to make clear; to make known HSK 5
发明發明	fāmíng	to invent; an invention HSK 5

HSK words first (CC-CEDICT).

Practice sheet

Print at 100%. Several characters: worksheet maker.

Keep going

HSK 1, in list order: