明 - Dong Chinese dictionary

míng

bright

The character was originally depicted moonlight (月) shining through a window (囧). The 囧 component was later reanalyzed as 日 (sun).

Components

囧 Sound Iconic component

jiǒng

bright window

The modern form looks similar to 日 (sun).

明 and 囧 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.明 /*mraŋ/
囧 /*k-mraŋʔ (dialect: *k.mr- > *kʷr-)/

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 囧 than it was in ancient scripts.

月 Iconic component

yuè

moon

Evolution

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)

Bronze script

Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Regular script

Modern

Definitions

明

míng

bright, light, brilliant; clear; bright; opposite: dark 暗[àn]; (of meaning) clear; to understand; next; public or open; wise; generic term for a sacrifice to the gods

明

Míng

Ming Dynasty (1368-1644); surname Ming; Ming (c. 2000 BC), fourth of the legendary Flame Emperors, 炎帝[Yándì] descended from Shennong 神農|神农[Shénnóng] Farmer God

Most common words with 明