月 (yuè) · moon, month

Meanings

1 moon
2 month

Characters

月

yuè

moon; month

Pictograph of a crescent moon - also used to count months.

Examples

HSK 1

今天是几月？

Jīntiān shì jǐ yuè?

What month is it today?

HSK 1

一年有十二个月。

Yì nián yǒu shí'èr gè yuè.

A year has twelve months.

HSK 4

月亮很亮。

Yuèliang hěn liàng.

The moon is very bright.

Tips

history

月 is a pictograph of a crescent moon. It's also a common radical (月字旁) in characters related to the body: 脸 (face), 腿 (leg), 肚 (belly).

grammar

Months are simply numbered: 一月 (January), 二月 (February)... 十二月 (December). No need to memorize separate names.

Components

pictograph

月 yuè

moon; month

Self-component - also 月's own indexing radical (Kangxi #74). The oracle-bone form depicted a crescent moon with a dot inside, the curve and inner mark surviving in the modern shape as the outer hook plus the two horizontals. Borrowed early on for 'month' (one lunar cycle). When 月 appears on the LEFT of other characters it is usually the flesh radical ⺼, a separate origin - this is the moon 月.

Radical

Moon Kangxi #74

Pictograph of a crescent moon. As a radical 月 has two threads: a small set of true 'moon/time' characters (朗, 期, 朝) and a much larger 'flesh' group inherited from 肉 (which collapses to the same shape as a left or bottom component): 肝, 肺, 脸, 腿, 胸, 肚, 脑. Productive in both senses.