复明 (fù míng) — to recover lost eyesight (after blindness or severe vision loss)

Definition

Used mainly in medical or formal contexts to mean regaining sight after blindness — much rarer than everyday 看见. Distinguish from 失明 ('to go blind'), which is its opposite.

verb
to recover lost eyesight (after blindness or severe vision loss)

Examples

  • ，复明。
    Jīng guò shǒu shù, tā zhōng yú fù míng le.
    After the surgery, he finally recovered his eyesight.
  • 。
    Zhè wèi lǎo rén shī míng shí nián hòu fù le míng.
    This elderly person regained eyesight after being blind for ten years.
  • 复明。
    Xiàn dài yī xué jì shù ràng xǔ duō máng rén yǒu jī huì fù míng.
    Modern medical technology gives many blind people the chance to recover their eyesight.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

复fùrestore
明míngbrightness

复 restores and 明 is brightness, together meaning to recover sight.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 復; 复 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 复 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (复习, 恢复) it is 復; in others (复印, 复杂) (答复, 反复) it is 複 or 覆.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
彳彳chìwalk
Sound part声符shēngfú
复
复fù復fù
Same sound today

The traditional form 復 combines 彳, a walking part, with 复, a sound part, to show walking back and forth.

Open 复 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

明 combines 日 (sun) and 月 (moon), showing the sun just rising while the moon has not yet set, or two bright objects in the sky, to express brightness.

Open 明 →

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