明白 (míng bai) — (adjective) clear, obvious; (verb) to understan… | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

明白 covers both 'clear/obvious' and 'to understand/realize.' As a verb it is more colloquial than 理解; as an adjective meaning 'obvious' it overlaps with 明显.

adjective

clearobvious

verb

to understandto realize

Examples

明白？
Nǐ míng bai zhè dào tí zěn me zuò ma?
Do you understand how to do this problem?
明白，。
Zhè ge dào lǐ hěn míng bai, bú yòng jiě shì le.
This reason is very clear; no need to explain.
明白。
Wǒ yí xià zi míng bai le tā de yì si.
I suddenly understood what he meant.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

明 and 白 both point to clarity, giving a sense of clear understanding.

Characters in this word

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

日月明

日日rìsun
月月yuèmoon

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.

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

白 is thought to picture either an acorn or a human head.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 3 500 Most Frequent Chinese Words HSK 2.0 Level 3 1000 Most Frequent Chinese Words Thinking & Cognition 2000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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