晟

shèng
adjective #38,079

Meanings

  1. 1 bright; brilliant
  2. 2 flourishing; prosperous

Examples

HSK 7-9
Zhāoyáng guāngmíng chì shèng.
The morning sun was bright and blazing.

Tips

culture
A favourite given-name character for its 'bright and thriving' meaning, as in the Tang general 李晟. The same brightness sense is also read 晟 by some, and as a surname it is read 晟 - but shèng is the standard reading.
register
晟 is a literary character, rarely used as a standalone adjective in modern Chinese; its 'bright' and 'flourishing' senses appear mainly in classical writing and personal names.

Components

radical
日 rì
sun
The sun radical 日 sits on top. It directly supplies the meaning: 晟 is the blazing brightness of the sun, the source of its 'brilliant, flourishing' sense.
phonetic
成 chéng
to complete
The lower part 成 supplies the sound - its reading survives in the alternate pronunciation 晟 and shifted to shèng in the standard reading. The shared phonetic also links to 盛 'flourishing', echoing this character's meaning.

Stroke Order

晟 shèng