名

The Chinese character 名 (míng) for "name" is composed of two parts: the radical 言 (yán), which means "speech" or "language," and the phonetic component 夕 (xī), which is a simplified form of the character 日 (rì), meaning "sun." The combination of these two components suggests the idea of "giving a name" or "calling something by its name."The earliest known use of the character 名 dates back to the Shang dynasty (c. 1600-1046 BCE), where it was used in oracle bone inscriptions. In these inscriptions, 名 was used as a verb meaning "to name" or "to call." Over time, the character took on additional meanings, including "reputation," "fame," and "title."In modern Chinese, 名 is commonly used as a noun meaning "name" or "title." It can also be used as a verb meaning "to name" or "to call." The character is also used in a number of compound words, such as 姓名 (xìngmíng, "name"), 名字 (míngzi, "name"), and 名人 (míngrén, "celebrity").The character 名 is pronounced míng in Mandarin Chinese and meng in Cantonese Chinese. It is written as 名 in both simplified and traditional Chinese characters.