The kanji character 明 generally conveys the ideas of "bright," "light," "clear," "obvious," and "to clarify." It often relates to illumination, understanding, and clarity of thought. It can refer to physical light as well as metaphorical clarity.

・On-yomi (音読み): メイ(mei), ミョウ(myou) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): あ（かるい）(a(karui), あ（かり）(a(kari), あ（きらか）(a(kiraka)

⚫︎ 明るい(akarui) Translation: Bright, cheerful ⚫︎ 説明(setsumei) Translation: Explanation, explanation; the act of explaining ⚫︎ 明日の朝(ashita no asa) Translation: Tomorrow morning

The kanji 明 is a pictophonetic compound (形声文字, keisei moji). It combines the radical 日 (ひ, hi) which means "sun" or "day" and the phonetic character 月 (つき, tsuki) which means "moon." This combination represents the light from the sun and moon, thus conveying the meaning of "bright" or "light." The 月 component also acts to indicate the sound of the kanji.