The kanji 昼 generally means "daytime," "noon," or "day." It refers to the period of time when the sun is up, contrasting with nighttime. It can also imply the peak of the day, specifically noon.

・On-yomi (音読み): チュウ (chū) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): ひる (hiru)

⚫︎ 昼食 Translation: Lunch ⚫︎ 昼休み Translation: Lunch break; daytime break ⚫︎ 昼間 Translation: Daytime; during the day

The kanji 昼 is a pictographic-semantic compound. It combines the elements of 日 (sun) and a phonetic component, which anciently had a form related to the character for "man" or "person." Thus it represents the sun (day) above a person, with the meaning of daytime or the time when people are active.