Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.
文wénlanguage
亠lid · tóu
乂to govern · yì
Memory aidDrawn from a person with a pattern on the chest. It came to mean writing and culture.
明míngbright
日sun · rì
月moon · yuè
Memory aidThe light of the sun 日 and the moon 月 together: bright.
How to write 文明
文 4 strokes · 明 8 strokes
Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.
Stroke order chart for 文明 (wénmíng). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.
文明 (wénmíng) means “civilised” or “civilisation”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it wénmíng: wén with a 2nd tone, then míng with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 文明 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Use 个 (gè). For example, one civilised is 一个文明 (yí ge wénmíng).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type wenming with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 文明 from the suggestions. Typing wenming into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
文明 is an HSK 5 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.
Turn words into conversations
A dictionary gives you the words. A native teacher shows you how to use them. Start with a free 30-minute intro call.
Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.
文wén2nd tone, rising
