夜 yè — night · English

夜

yè

night

At a glance · 夜

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Evolution of the glyph

Five stages, from a sketch of the real object to regular script — tap a stage, drag the timeline, or play the animation.

Object sketchBefore writing · drawing what was seen
Oracle boneShang dynasty · c. 1300–1046 BCE
Seal scriptQin dynasty · 221–206 BCE
Clerical scriptHan dynasty · 206 BCE–220 CE
Regular scriptWei–Jin to Tang · c. 3rd–9th century CE

Object sketchBefore writing · drawing what was seenOracle boneShang dynasty · c. 1300–1046 BCESeal scriptQin dynasty · 221–206 BCEClerical scriptHan dynasty · 206 BCE–220 CERegular scriptWei–Jin to Tang · c. 3rd–9th century CE

夜字小篆从夕亦声，为形声字；本义为夜晚。甲骨文未见。

What the sketch shows

Origins & notes

夜本义为夜晚、黑夜。

Structure

形声字，左部『夕』为意符表夜间，右部『亦』为声符。

At a glance

Pinyinyè

Radical夕

Strokes8

UnicodeU+591C

Character type形声

Theme天文

Six languages, one character

Each page offers hreflang versions; switching language keeps the glyphs and meanings aligned.

English night Ye is a phonetic-semantic character meaning night.

Français nuit Ye est un caractère phonético-sémantique signifiant la nuit.

Español noche Ye es un carácter fonosemántico que significa la noche.

العربية ليل يه حرف صوتي دلالي يعني الليل.

Русский ночь Е — фоносемантический знак, означающий ночь.

Common words

夜晚yè wǎnnight
夜里yè lǐat night

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