Meaning of 天
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- day
- sky
- heaven
How to use 天
天 is very common as a measure word for days, as in 三天 (sān tiān, three days), and it forms everyday words like 今天 (jīntiān), 明天 (míngtiān), and 天气 (tiānqì). Example: 今天天气很好。(Jīntiān tiānqì hěn hǎo.) The weather is nice today.
Picture 天 (tiān) as a person 大 (dà) standing with arms spread wide, with one extra line above the head. That line is the sky over everyone, so 天 means sky, and by extension a day.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 天 (tiān) with 夫 (fū, husband, man). In 天 the top line is shorter and sits above the person, while in 夫 the top stroke pokes through. Also, do not add 个 when counting days: say 两天 (liǎng tiān), not 两个天.
天 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
天 tiān · day · 4 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
Related words
Words that share a character with 天.
| 今天 | jīntiān | today; the present time; now |
| 明天 | míngtiān | tomorrow |
| 昨天 | zuótiān | yesterday |
| 天气 | tiānqì | weather |
| 白天 | báitiān | daytime; during the day |
| 星期天 | xīngqītiān | Sunday |
| 后天 | hòutiān | the day after tomorrow; life after birth (the period in which one develops through experie |
| 半天 | bàntiān | half of the day; a long time |
| 前天 | qiántiān | the day before yesterday |
| 夏天 | xiàtiān | summer |
| 春天 | chūntiān | spring (season) |
| 冬天 | dōngtiān | winter |
Questions about 天
What does 天 mean?
天 (tiān) means "day; sky" and is used as a noun and measure word.
How do you write 天?
天 is made of 1 character: 天 (4 strokes). That is 4 strokes in total.
Is 天 an HSK word?
Yes. 天 is on the HSK 1 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How do you say Sunday using 天?
Say 星期天 (xīngqītiān). You may also hear 星期日 (xīngqīrì), which is a bit more formal and common in writing.
Does 天 mean God or heaven in Chinese?
天 can mean heaven in a broad sense, as in the exclamation 天哪 (tiān na), meaning oh my goodness. For a religious God, Chinese usually uses other words such as 上帝 (shàngdì).