The Chinese character 月
And its component form
月
yuè
- moon
- month
The Chinese character 月 looks like a crescent moon. Can you see the resemblance?
月 is both a character and a character component
月 can be used as a meaning component in a Chinese character. You’ll find 月 in characters and words related to body parts.
These characters all contain 月:
The character component 月 can also be found in word that are not related to body parts.
The component 月 can also be found in characters related to the moon, which is logical. But it can also be used in characters that have nothing to do with the body parts or moon.
Exceptions
You can find the character component 月 used in words related to the moon like in:
明 míng: bright
望 wàng: full moon; to hope
期 qī: a period of time; phase
You can find the character component 月 used in other words like:
有 yǒu: to have; there is; there are
服 fú: clothes, dress, garment
能 néng: to be able to; ability
You’ll also find the meaning component 月 in many other Chinese characters. Browse the full list here.
All 80,000+ Chinese characters share the same character components. Chinese character components are therefore essential for Chinese learners: they are the building blocks of Chinese. Character character components help tremendously with understanding a character: they provide information on its meaning or on its pronunciation. In short, knowing character components will help you analyse, learn and remember each Chinese character much better.
Join us on Ninchanese as we teach you everything about the Chinese character components you need to know, little by little.