明艳 (míng yàn) — bright and beautiful

Definition

明艳 describes colors or appearances that are strikingly vivid and bright — stronger and more eye-catching than 漂亮, used especially for flowers, colors, and scenes rather than people.

verb
bright and beautiful

Examples

  • 明艳。
    Tā de xiào róng míng yàn dòng rén.
    Her smile is bright, beautiful, and moving.
  • 明艳。
    Chūn tiān de huā duǒ míng yàn duó mù.
    The spring flowers are bright, beautiful, and dazzling.
  • 明艳。
    Zhè fú huà de sè cǎi fēi cháng míng yàn.
    The colors of this painting are very bright and beautiful.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéSide by side

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

明míngbright
艳yànbeautiful

明 gives brightness and 艳 gives loveliness, giving bright and beautiful.

Characters in this word

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 →

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 豔; 艳 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
豐豐fēngabundant, great
Sound part声符shēngfú
盇
盇hé豔yàn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 豔 pairs 豐 (abundant, great) with a sound component 盇; the simplified 艳 is a later abbreviation.

Open 艳 →

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