太白 (Tàibái): Venus (the planet, classical na…

Meanings

1 Venus (the planet, classical name)
2 Li Bai's courtesy name (李太白)
3 Mount Taibai in the Qinling range, Shaanxi

Characters

太

Examples

李白字太白，号青莲居士。

Lǐ Bái zì Tàibái, hào Qīnglián Jūshì.

Li Bai's courtesy name was Taibai, his pen name was Hermit of Qinglian.

古人称金星为太白。

Gǔrén chēng Jīnxīng wèi Tàibái.

The ancients called the planet Venus 'Taibai'.

Tips

culture

Most often refers to the Tang poet 李白 (Li Bai) via his courtesy name 太白. Legend says his mother dreamed of the Taibai star (Venus, the brightest 'great white' in the dawn sky) before his birth, so she named him after it. The name fuses three things at once: a planet, a sacred Daoist mountain in Shaanxi, and China's most celebrated poet.