文明

wénmíng

noun HSK 3 #4,586

Meanings

古埃及文明非常了不起。

Gǔ Āijí wénmíng fēicháng liǎobuqǐ.

Ancient Egyptian civilization was remarkable.

请文明排队。

Qǐng wénmíng páiduì.

Please line up in a civilized manner.

我们要做文明的人。

Wǒmen yào zuò wénmíng de rén.

We should be civilized people.

usage

文明 as a noun means 'civilization' (中华文明). As an adjective it means 'civilized/polite' — you'll see 文明 on signs reminding people to be orderly.

usage

Common in public signs: 文明用语 (use polite language), 文明出行 (travel in a civilized way).

文 wén

明 míng