昊 (hào): the vast sky

Meanings

1 the vast sky
2 boundless heaven
3 surname Hao

Characters

昊

hào

vast sky

Examples

HSK 7-9

昊天罔极。

Hào tiān wǎng jí.

Heaven is boundless. (classical phrase, often used to describe parents' kindness)

HSK 7-9

他给儿子取名叫昊宇。

Tā gěi érzi qǔmíng jiào Hào yǔ.

He named his son Haoyu (literally 'vast sky and universe').

Tips

memory

Visual etymology: 日 (sun) on top of 天 (sky) - a sun in a vast sky. Mostly used today as a given-name character to evoke grandeur (昊天, 昊宇, 浩昊), and in classical phrases like 昊天罔极 (Book of Songs).

Components

radical

日 rì

sun; day

Top sun radical - pictograph of the sun (originally a circle with a dot inside), the indexing component. Sits above 天 sky to picture the sun blazing in the heavens. Same radical heads 时 time, 明 bright, 春 spring - anything tied to sunlight or day.

semantic

天 tiān

sky; heaven

Below sits 天 - pictograph of a person 大 with the great expanse above the head emphasised, meaning 'sky, heaven.' Together with 日 above, 昊 paints 'sun in the vast sky' - the wide, brilliant summer sky, classically the limitless heavens. The character is rare in modern speech, common as a given name conveying boundlessness.