天

tiān
#78 most
frequent character
day
noun

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

天 shows 大 person with 一 as a mark on the forehead, so it first meant 'a person's forehead'. From 'top of the head' it reached 'sky, heaven', a sense borrowed for its sound. It then grew to 'nature' and 'day'.

Drawn as: person; forehead mark

天 as a component in other characters

meaning1 character
昊
sound2 characters
吞忝
picture2 characters
吴祆
empty1 character
蚕

Ask DeepSeek

Example Sentences

今天是星期一。
jīntiānshì xīngqīyī 。
Today is Monday.
明天我有一个考试。
míngtiān wǒyǒu yígè kǎoshì 。
I have an exam tomorrow.
昨天的天气很好。
zuótiān de tiānqì hěnhǎo 。
The weather was very nice yesterday.

Words with similar meanings

日rì
day
More formal and can refer to the sun or a specific date.
日子rìzǐ
day, date
More colloquial, often refers to a specific time or dates in life.

Words Starting With 天

天气tiān qì
weather
天真tiān zhēn
naive; innocent; artless
天空tiān kōng
sky
天伦之乐tiān lún zhī lè
pleasure of heavenly agreement (idiom); family love and joy; domestic bliss
天堂tiān táng
paradise; heaven

Your word lists

Sign in to add this word to your private lists.