天 | Chinese Character for Sky
chinese characters

天 | Chinese Character for Sky

天 is the character for “sky”. It is made out of 4 strokes.

Chinese CharacterSimplified VersionBopomofoPinyin
ㄊㄧㄢTiān

Definition

Sky; heaven; day

Historical Origins

The top line represents the horizontal plane above a person (大) with outstretched arms. The ancient character depicts a person with a large head, serving as a personification of the sky.

The original meaning of the word was “sky.” This concept was difficult to represent with a pictograph, so the current form of the character was adopted.

Vocabulary with the Character 天

ChineseBopomofoPinyinEnglish
天氣ㄊㄧㄢ ㄑㄧˋtiānqìweather
天空ㄊㄧㄢ ㄎㄨㄥtiānkōngsky
今天ㄐㄧㄣ ㄊㄧㄢjīntiāntoday
明天ㄇㄧㄥˊ ㄊㄧㄢmíngtiāntomorrow
天天ㄊㄧㄢ ㄊㄧㄢtiāntiānevery day
天才ㄊㄧㄢ ㄘㄞˊtiāncáigenius
天使ㄊㄧㄢ ㄕˇtiānshǐangel
天堂ㄊㄧㄢ ㄊㄤˊtiāntángheaven, paradise
天文ㄊㄧㄢ ㄨㄣˊtiānwénastronomy

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