彰 (zhāng) · bright, clear, manifest

Meanings

1 bright
2 clear
3 manifest
4 to make evident
5 to distinguish

Characters

彰

zhāng

bright / clear / manifest

Examples

HSK 6

表彰先进，激励后进。

Biǎozhāng xiānjìn, jīlì hòujìn.

Commend those who lead the way; inspire those who lag behind.

HSK 7-9

他的功绩显而彰，众人有目共睹。

Tā de gōngjì xiǎn ér zhāng, zhòngrén yǒumù-gòngdǔ.

His achievements are bright and clear for all to see.

Tips

register

彰 is a classical/literary character rarely used alone in modern Chinese. It most commonly appears in compound words: 表彰 (to commend), 彰显 (to make manifest), and 彰明较著 (clearly evident, idiom).

Components

radical

彡 shān

feathers; bristles; visible pattern

Right indexing radical 彡 - three slanted strokes drawn as glossy hairs or sweeping brush marks, the classical symbol of surface decoration and visible texture. It puts 彰 in the family of 'outward-display' characters alongside 影 shadow, 形 shape, 彩 colourful, 彦 elegance.

phonetic

章 zhāng

chapter; mark; emblem

Left 章 supplies the sound zhāng with no tone shift, and a strong semantic echo: 章 already means an emblem or written mark, something publicly displayed. Pair that with the brush-strokes on the right and you get 'displayed visibly, made manifest', the core sense of 彰.