明白

Chinese

 
clear; bright; to understand; next; the Ming dynasty
 
white; empty; blank; bright; clear; plain; pure; gratuitous
simp. and trad.
(明白)		 明 白
Literally: “clear and clean”.

Etymology

Attested in Zhuangzi ("clear and clean"), Chu Ci ("bright and clean"), Mozi ("to be evident, clear"), Tao Te Ching ("to know, to understand").

Pronunciation

Rime
Character 明 白
Reading # 1/1 1/1
Initial (聲) 明 (4) 並 (3)
Final (韻) 庚 (111) 陌 (113)
Tone (調) Level (Ø) Checked (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open Open
Division (等) III II
Fanqie 武兵切 傍陌切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /mˠiæŋ/ /bˠæk̚/
Pan
Wuyun		 /mᵚiaŋ/ /bᵚak̚/
Shao
Rongfen		 /miaŋ/ /bak̚/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /miajŋ/ /baɨjk̚/
Li
Rong		 /miɐŋ/ /bɐk̚/
Wang
Li		 /mĭɐŋ/ /bɐk̚/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /mi̯ɐŋ/ /bʱɐk̚/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 míng bó
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 明 白
Reading # 1/1 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 míng bái
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ mjæng › ‹ bæk ›
Old
Chinese		 /*mraŋ/ /*bˤrak/
English bright white

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 明 白
Reading # 1/1 1/1
No. 9188 207
Phonetic
component		 明 白
Rime
group		 陽 鐸
Rime
subdivision		 0 0
Corresponding
MC rime		 明 白
Old
Chinese		 /*mraŋ/ /*braːɡ/

Verb

明白

  1. to understand; to know
    我講的話你明白了嗎？ [MSC, trad.]
    我讲的话你明白了吗？ [MSC, simp.]
    Wǒ jiǎng de huà nǐ míngbai le ma? [Pinyin]
    Do you understand what I said?
    你在想什麼，我心裡全明白。 [MSC, trad.]
    你在想什么，我心里全明白。 [MSC, simp.]
    Nǐ zài xiǎng shénme, wǒ xīnli quán míngbai. [Pinyin]
    I know for sure what you are thinking.

Synonyms

  • (to understand):

Usage notes

When used as a verb, 明白 conveys an understanding of a meaning or a situation. To express an ability to understand a language, see 會說／会说 (huìshuō, “to be able to speak”), 聽懂／听懂 (tīngdǒng, “to understand by listening”) or 看懂 (kàndǒng, “to understand when reading”).

Adjective

明白

  1. clear; obvious; evident
  2. open; explicit; frank
  3. sensible; reasonable

Synonyms

See also

  • (not to be confused with) 明日 (míngrì)

Derived terms

  • 明白人

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (明白):

Japanese

Kanji in this term
明 白
めい
Grade: 2		 はく
Grade: 1
on’yomi

Adjectival noun

明白 (-na inflection, hiragana めいはく, rōmaji meihaku)

  1. clear, obvious, plain, undeniable
    明白 (めいはく)な安 (あん)保 (ぽ)理 (り)決 (けつ)議 (ぎ)違 (い)反 (はん)だ。
    Meihaku na anporiketsugiihan da.
    It is a clear violation of Security Council resolutions.

Inflection

Noun

明白 (hiragana めいはく, rōmaji meihaku)

  1. obviousness, undeniability

References

  • 2002, Ineko Kondō; Fumi Takano; Mary E Althaus; et. al., Shogakukan Progressive Japanese-English Dictionary, Third Edition, Tokyo: Shōgakukan, →ISBN.
  • 2002, Yasuo Kitahara, 明鏡国語辞典 (Meikyō Kokugo Jiten), First Edition (in Japanese), Tokyo: Taishūkan Shoten, →ISBN

Vietnamese

Hán tự in this word
明白

Adjective

明白

  1. Hán tự form of minh bạch
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