昼 (zhòu) — daytime, daylight (literary/formal)

Definition

Literary/formal word for 'daytime / daylight', almost always paired with 夜 (e.g. 昼夜). In everyday speech use 白天 instead.

noun

daytimedaylight (literary/formal)

Easily confused

昼，。
zhòu Yǔ yè jiāo tì, yǒng bù tíng xī.
Day and night alternate, never ceasing.
昼，。
Tā zhòu chū yè guī, gōng zuò fēi cháng xīn kǔ.
He goes out by day and returns at night; his work is very hard.
，昼。
Xià zhì shí, zhòu zuì cháng.
At the summer solstice, the daytime is longest.

Compound ideograph

六书liùshū

会意huìyì

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 晝; 昼 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 晝 pairs 日 (sun) with 聿, whose original meaning is unclear; the whole glyph was used for “daytime”.