天亮 (tiān liàng) — daybreak, dawn; to become light, to dawn

Definition

天亮 literally means 'sky brightens' — the moment dawn breaks and it gets light. Refers to the time of daybreak itself, not the broader period of 早晨.

daybreakdawnto become lightto dawn

Examples

  • 天亮。
    Wǒ men děng dào tiān liàng cái chū fā.
    We waited until daybreak to set out.
  • 天亮。
    Xià tiān tiān liàng dé hěn zǎo.
    In summer, it gets light very early.
  • 天亮，。
    tiān liàng De shí hou, niǎo r kāi shǐ chàng gē.
    At daybreak, birds start singing.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

天tiānsky, day
亮liàngbright

天 is the sky or day, and 亮 is bright, so it describes the sky becoming bright.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
大大dà
Sound part声符shēngfú
丁
丁dīng天tiān
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The shape comes from a frontal standing man 大 with a head; 天 pairs 大 with 丁 for sound.

Open 天 →

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
人人rénperson
Sound part声符shēngfú
京
京jīng亮liàng
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

亮 combines 人 (person) with 京, and the 京 part shows a tower body.

Open 亮 →
Appears in
Time of Day

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