名 míng — name; given name; reputation, famous; measure word for people counted by rank or role
míng (second tone, rising)
name; given name; reputation, famous; measure word for people counted by rank or role
6 strokesRadical 口Frequency #221
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.
Words containing 名
Radical 口 — other characters
- 口kǒu (third tone, dipping)mouth; an opening or entrance; measure word for members of a household
- 问問wèn (fourth tone, falling)to ask, to inquire; to ask after, to send regards; to question, to interrogate
- 吃chī (first tone, high and level)to eat; to take (a meal, medicine); to absorb, to take in
- 喜xǐ (third tone, dipping)to like, to be fond of; joy, delight; a happy event, especially a wedding
- 喝hē (first tone, high and level) hè (fourth tone, falling)to drink; (hè) to shout loudly, to call out