名 míng — name; given name; reputation, famous; measure word for people counted by rank or role

míng

name; given name; reputation, famous; measure word for people counted by rank or role

6 strokesRadical 口Frequency #221

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Pinyin

míng (second tone, rising)

name; given name; reputation, famous; measure word for people counted by rank or role

Character breakdown

Ideographic description

⿱夕口The sequence reads left to right and describes how the parts are arranged.

夕meaning partno entry yetDusk — the crescent moon barely showing. After dark a face cannot be made out.
口meaning partThe mouth: what cannot be seen has to be said.

Mnemonic

Evening 夕 over a mouth 口: in the dark you cannot be recognised by sight, so you call out who you are. That is the Shuowen’s own explanation and it has never been bettered. From a name comes a reputation — 有名 famous — and 名 also counts people formally: 三名学生, three students, where 个 would be the everyday choice.

A memory aid written by HSK Guide editors. It is not an etymology and does not describe the historical origin of the character.

名 míng — name; given name; reputation, famous; measure word for people counted by rank or role

Pinyin

Character breakdown

Mnemonic

Words containing 名

Radical 口 — other characters