朝 (cháo): towards; facing; in the directi…

Meanings

1 towards; facing; in the direction of
2 imperial court; government
3 dynasty; reign of an emperor
4 to make a pilgrimage to
5 Korea (abbr. for 朝鲜)

Characters

朝

cháo

towards; court; dynasty

Examples

他朝我走过来了。

Tā cháo wǒ zǒu guòlái le.

He walked towards me.

窗户朝南。

Chuānghu cháo nán.

The window faces south.

唐朝是中国历史上很重要的朝代。

Tángcháo shì Zhōngguó lìshǐ shàng hěn zhòngyào de cháodài.

The Tang Dynasty was a very important dynasty in Chinese history.

Tips

usage

As a preposition (朝 + place/person), it marks the direction an action faces — close to 向 but more colloquial. As a noun it means imperial court and, by extension, the dynasty ruling from it: 唐朝, 清朝.

memory

The path from morning to dynasty: officials gathered before the emperor at daybreak — the 'morning audience' (朝见). That meeting place became the 朝廷 (court), and the ruling house came to be called a 朝. Same character, second tone for the political senses.

Components

radical

月 yuè

moon

Right 月 — also the indexing radical. In the dawn picture it shows the setting moon as the sun climbs through the grass on the left: sun rising, moon fading. Same radical family as 期 and 望.

semantic

龺 gàn

sun rising through grass (graphic)

Left 8-stroke stack — historically a picture of the sun (日) rising amid grass, capturing the moment of daybreak. The original sense was 'dawn'; the court and dynasty meanings come from the morning audience held at sunrise.