In late spring, the lovely light is at its finest.
Tips
history
Original meaning: the legendary court music of Emperor Shun (虞舜). 《论语》 records that Confucius heard 韶 in Qi and 'for three months did not know the taste of meat' (三月不知肉味), so moved was he by its beauty. From there 韶 generalized to mean 'beautiful' - especially of springtime and youth.
memory
Almost never appears alone in modern Chinese - you'll meet it as the first syllable of 韶华 (sháohuá, glorious youth), 韶光 (sháoguāng, beautiful springtime), and the place name 韶关 (Sháoguān, a city in Guangdong).
Left sound radical, the indexing element - depicts a tongue and mouth producing tones. Anchors 韶 in the music family. Legend assigns the name 韶 to the perfect court music of mythic Emperor Shun, music so refined Confucius said it made him taste no meat for three months.
Right 召 supplies the sound, shifting zhào to sháo through historical zh/sh alternation. Faint semantic echo: this was music summoned to grace royal ceremonies. Modern usage drifted toward 'splendid, glorious' - 韶光 glorious time, 韶华 the prime of youth - keeping only the radiance of that lost music.
