noun #15,184

Meanings

  1. 1 dawn; rising sun

Examples

HSK 2
Tā gěi érzi qǔmíng jiào Xù.
He named his son Xu (dawn).
HSK 3
Xùrì dōng shēng, xīn de yī tiān kāishǐ le.
The morning sun rises in the east, a new day begins.

Tips

usage
is commonly used in names because of its auspicious meaning. The compound 旭日 ('rising sun') is literary. 旭日东升 is a set phrase meaning 'the morning sun rises in the east.'

Components

radical
sun (radical)
Sun radical tucked into the lower-right corner - the indexing radical, an oblong with a dot inside marking the sun's disc. Anchors in the time/light family with , , , . Here it captures the disc rising over the horizon at daybreak, the dawn glow the character names.
phonetic
jiǔ
nine
Upper-left supplies the sound, with the regular jiǔ to xù shift along the j-/x- palatal series. The 'nine' sense plays no part in the meaning; pure sound peg here. The phonetic appears in enmity and to investigate (both having moved different directions from the same root).

Stroke Order