Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People

名: name, noted

Also: distinguished, reputation

JLPT N56 strokesGrade 1Your ink: 白 Not met

夕 and 口 carry the meaning

6 strokes

Three readings, and the words that use each

メイmei · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 氏名しめいfull name
  • 題名だいめいtitle
  • 一名いちめいone person
  • 有名なゆうめいなfamous
  • 名物めいぶつlocal speciality
  • 名曲めいきょくgreat music
  • 名刺めいしbusiness card
  • 名誉なめいよなhonorable

ミョウmyou · on'yomi

  • 本名ほんみょうreal name
  • 名字みょうじfamily name

なna · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 名前なまえname

Also read -な, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
Print sheet Present
成り立ち

Where it comes from

Origin · sourced

Ideogrammic compound (會意)夕 crescent moon + 口 mouth

To say one's own name to identify oneself in the dark.

Source: Wiktionary, 名 (rev. 92722448), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Evening (夕) + mouth (口). Originally, since people couldn't see each other in the "darkness" of "evening," they had to use their "mouths" to call out their "names."”
From the 夕 evening story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
夕

Also built on evening (夕)

All 6
口

Also built on mouth (口)

All 108

名 gives its sound to

The family reading is メイ (mei). Sound parts: KanjiVG.

Also read メイ

8 kanji share this on'yomi

Also read ミョウ

7 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
名 name · 夕
vs各 each · 夂
名 has 夕 where 各 has 夂.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · míng

Same form: 名 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).

Simplified
名 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
名 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin míng most common reading

Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.

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