Meaning of 阴天
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- cloudy day; overcast sky
How to use 阴天
阴天 is a common weather word and often appears with 天气 (tiānqì) or as a description of today. You can say 今天是阴天 or simply 今天阴天, treating it almost like a description. Example: 明天是阴天，可能会下雨。(Míngtiān shì yīntiān, kěnéng huì xià yǔ.) Tomorrow will be overcast, and it might rain.
阴 (yīn) means shade or the dark side, as in 阴阳 (yīnyáng), and 天 (tiān) means sky or day. A shaded sky is a cloudy, overcast day.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes mix up 阴 (yīn) with 阳 (yáng), its opposite, and say 阳天 for a sunny day. The usual word for a sunny day is 晴天 (qíngtiān), not 阳天.
阴天 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.
阴 yīn · overcast · 6 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
天 tiān · day · 4 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
Related words
Words that share a character with 阴天.
| 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 阴天
What does 阴天 mean?
阴天 (yīntiān) means "cloudy day; overcast sky" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 阴天?
阴天 is made of 2 characters: 阴 (6 strokes), 天 (4 strokes). That is 10 strokes in total.
Is 阴天 an HSK word?
Yes. 阴天 is on the HSK 2 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 阴天 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 阴天 is written 陰天.
What is the difference between 阴天 and 多云?
阴天 means the sky is fully or mostly covered and gray. 多云 (duōyún) means partly cloudy, with clouds but some sun. Weather forecasts use both, so they are not interchangeable.
Can 阴天 be used as a verb like 下雨?
Not quite. To say the sky is turning cloudy, Chinese uses 天阴了 (tiān yīn le), where 阴 acts as the adjective. 阴天 itself stays a noun for an overcast day.