明 (Bright) — Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

bright, light

On’yomi メイ、ミョウ、ミン

Kun’yomi あ.かり、あか.るい、あか.るむ、あか.らむ、あき.らか、あ.ける、-あ.け、あ.く、あ.くる、あ.かす

Nanori あきら、あけ、あす、きら、け、さや、さやか、とし、はる、み、め

Origin

The character 明 combines two components that both relate to light: the sun on the left (日) and the moon on the right (月). Together, they express the idea of brightness—whether from the sun during the day or the moon at night. By joining these two luminous objects, the character captures the concept of light itself. This compound approach of stacking meaningful pictures was common in early Chinese character design.

明 8 strokes

Components

日 radical left
月 meaning part right

Common words

明白めいはく obvious; clear
解明かいめい elucidation; explication
究明きゅうめい investigation (esp. in academic and scientific contexts); finding out the facts
賢明けんめい wise; sensible
言明げんめい declaration; statement
光明こうみょう bright light
公明こうめい fairness; openness
克明こくめい detailed; scrupulous

Easily confused with

These look alike but are unrelated in meaning — check the stroke that differs.

胆 gall bladder, courage

Reference

Strokes: 8
Kangxi radical: 72
Formation type: Compound ideographic (combined meanings)
Grade: Grade 2 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank: #67 (newspapers)
Former JLPT: level 3
Unicode: U+0660E