晨 (chén): morning, dawn, daybreak
晨 (chén) is a Chinese character meaning “morning.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 日 (semantic) and 辰 (phonetic). It ranks #1380 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 晨 sun. Its radical form 日 (sun) appears in many related characters such as 日 (rì, sun, day), 早 (zǎo, early, morning), 时 (shí, time, hour).
Definitions
- morning
- dawn
- daybreak
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
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Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 晨
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 早晨noun | zǎo chén | early morning | 4 |
| 凌晨noun | líng chén | very early in the morning | 6 |
| 清晨noun | qīng chén | early morning | 6 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 今晨 | jīn chén | this morning |
| 晨曦 | chén xī | first rays of morning sun |
| 晨报 | chén bào | morning newspaper |
| 晨练 | chén liàn | morning exercise |
| 晨露 | chén lù | morning dew |
| 晨星 | chén xīng | morning stars |
| 一日之计在于晨 | yī rì zhī jì zài yú chén | make your day's plan early in the morning (idiom) |
| 华商晨报 | huá shāng chén bào | China Business Morning Post (morning edition of China Business News 華商報|华商报) |
| 晨间 | chén jiān | (of the) morning |
| 北京晨报 | běi jīng chén bào | Beijing Morning Post, newspaper published 1998-2018 |
| 晨昏定省 | chén hūn dìng xǐng | morning and evening visits to parents |
| 昏定晨省 | hūn dìng chén xǐng | seeing to bed in the evening and visiting in the morning (ancient filial duty) |
| 晨跑 | chén pǎo | to go for a morning run |
| 晨歌 | chén gē | morning chorus (birdsong) |
| 牝鸡司晨 | pìn jī sī chén | female chicken crows at daybreak (idiom) |
晨 appears in 26 compound words: 50 as the first character, 31 as the last, and 19 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 晨 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (6)
morning and evening visits to parents; cf 昏定晨省[hun1 ding4 chen2 xing3]
seeing to bed in the evening and visiting in the morning (ancient filial duty)
morning and evening visits to parents; cf 昏定晨省[hun1 ding4 chen2 xing3]
seeing to bed in the evening and visiting in the morning (ancient filial duty)
Example Sentences
晨落西山，晚霞映红了半边天。
chén luò xī shān , wǎn xiá yìng hóng le bàn biān tiān .
As the morning sun dips below the western hills, the evening glow paints half the sky crimson.
...国〉春节商机!电话接不完 美甲师加班到凌晨三点
. . . guó chūn jié shāng jī ! diàn huà jiē bù wán měi jiǎ shī jiā bān dào líng chén sān diǎn
... Spring Festival business opportunities! The phone can't be answered, and the nail technician works overtime until three o'clock in the morning
桃园人妻晨间泼酸毁夫双眼 获缓刑理由曝光
táo yuán rén qī chén jiān pō suān huǐ fū shuāng yǎn huò huǎn xíng lǐ yóu pù guāng
Taoyuan wife splashed acid in the morning and destroyed her husband's eyes, and the reason for the suspended sentence was exposed
凌晨2:34 新北坪林区规模4.0地震 最大...
líng chén 2 : 3 4 xīn běi píng lín qū guī mó 4 . 0 dì zhèn zuì dà . . .
At 2:34 a.m., a magnitude 4.0 earthquake in Pinglin District, New Taipei City was the largest...
快讯/马来西亚沙巴凌晨发生7.1强震
kuài xùn mǎ lái xī yà shā bā líng chén fā shēng 7 . 1 qiáng zhèn
News/A 7.1 earthquake struck Sabah, Malaysia in the early morning
“滶晨II”马年首周末沽2伙 套现近2700万...
滶 chén I I mǎ nián shǒu zhōu mò gū 2 huǒ tào xiàn jìn 2 7 0 0 wàn . . .
"Yichen II" sold 2 units on the first weekend of the Year of the Horse and cashed out nearly 27 million...
我今晨看见一位天使。
Wǒ jīnchén kànjiàn yī wèi tiānshǐ.
This morning, I saw an angel.
我不喜欢在清晨开的会议。
Wǒ bù xǐhuan zài qīngchén kāi de huìyì.
I don't like early morning meetings.
我觉得在寒冷的早晨很难早起。
Wǒ juéde zài hánlěng de zǎochén hěn nán zǎoqǐ.
I find it hard to get up early on cold mornings.
从清晨开始一直下雨。
Cóng qīngchén kāishǐ yīzhí xiàyǔ.
It's been raining since early morning.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 晨 (chén) mean in Chinese?
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What is the radical of 晨?
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What are common words containing 晨?
What characters sound the same as 晨 (chén)?
Is 晨 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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