暗

晻/闇

àn

日 + 音

HSK 2.0Level 5

HSK 3.0Level 5

Definitions

àn (adjective) dark; gloomy

àn (adjective) hidden; secret

àn (adjective) muddled; obscure

Etymology

Phonosemantic compound. 日 represents the meaning and 音 represents the sound.

Semantic: 日 Phonetic: 音

About

暗 (àn) is a phono-semantic compound: 日 (rì) represents the meaning, and 音 (yīn) represents the sound. Although the sun radical might seem contradictory for a character meaning 'dark', it originally referred to the sun's light being obscured or absent. From this literal darkness, the meaning expanded to describe things hidden, secret, or done clandestinely. Thus, the character can describe both physical lack of light and the concealment of intentions or information.

Etymology Hide

Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)

Traditional Modern

Simplified Modern

Example Sentences Hide

这个房间很暗。

Zhège fángjiān hěn àn.

This room is very dark.

晚上没有灯很暗。

Wǎnshàng méiyǒu dēng hěn àn.

It is very dark at night without lights.

他在暗中帮助我。

Tā zài ànzhōng bāngzhù wǒ.

He is helping me secretly.

她暗示我离开。

Tā ànshì wǒ líkāi.

She hinted for me to leave.

黑暗中有奇怪的声音。

Hēi'àn zhōng yǒu qíguài de shēngyīn.

There is a strange sound in the darkness.

我们用了暗号联系。

Wǒmen yòng le ànhào liánxì.

We used a secret signal to contact.

他暗地里做了很多准备。

Tā àndì lǐ zuò le hěnduō zhǔnbèi.

He made a lot of preparations secretly.

在暗淡的月光下他慢慢走着。

Zài àndàn de yuèguāng xià tā mànman zǒu zhe.

Under the dim moonlight, he walked slowly.

Related Characters

Component: 日

Component: 音

暗