阳 (yáng): positive (electric.), sun, male principle (Taoism)

阳 (yáng) is a Chinese character meaning “positive (electric.).” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 阝 (structural) and 日 (structural). It ranks #650 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 阳 the place 阝 of the sun 日; compare 阴. Its radical form 阝 (mound) appears in many related characters such as 那 (nà, (specifier) that), 都 (dōu, all), 院 (yuàn, courtyard).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. positive (electric.)
  2. sun
  3. male principle (Taoism)

Etymology & Origin

阳

ideographicThe place 阝 of the sun 日; compare 阴

Decomposition: ⿰阝日 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6

Practice writing 阳 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 阳

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
太阳nountài yangsun3
阳光nounyáng guāngsunshine4
阳台nounyáng táivariant of 陽臺|阳台5
太阳能nountài yáng néngsolar energy6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
阳性yáng xìngpositive
太阳系proper-nountài yáng xìsolar system
晒太阳verbshài tài yángto be in the sun (getting warm or sunbathing etc)
太阳镜nountài yáng jìngsunglasses
夕阳nounxī yángsunset
太阳神tài yáng shénSun God
阴阳nounyīn yángyin and yang
阳痿yáng wěi(medicine) impotence
阳伞nounyáng sǎnparasol
阳刚adjectiveyáng gāngmanly
汉阳proper-nounhàn yángsee 漢陽區|汉阳区
朝阳verbcháo yángto be exposed to the sun
东阳proper-noundōng yángsee 東陽市|东阳市
遮阳verbzhē yángto shield from the sun
阳间nounyáng jiānthe world of the living
107
Total compounds
15
As first character
79
As last character
6
As middle character

阳 appears in 107 compound words: 15 as the first character, 79 as the last, and 6 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 阳 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

县xiàn
0.53432,106 co-occurrences
绵mián
0.5312,524 co-occurrences
浏liú
0.5272,248 co-occurrences
太tài
0.51036,631 co-occurrences
贵guì
0.5017,842 co-occurrences
衡héng
0.4976,860 co-occurrences
岳yuè
0.4825,096 co-occurrences
辽liáo
0.4774,258 co-occurrences
阴yīn
0.4735,203 co-occurrences
咸xián
0.4703,876 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (9)

洛阳纸贵luòyángzhǐguì

to be all the rage for a time; to be immensely popular

phrase
太阳电池tàiyáng diànchíHSK 5+

Alternative name for 太陽能電池/太阳能电池 (tàiyángnéng diànchí).

noun
太阳眼镜tài yáng yǎn jìngHSK 4+

sunglasses

phrase
夕阳西下xīyángxīxiàHSK 5+

when the sun sets in the west; at dusk

phrase
阳奉阴违yángfèngyīnwéiHSK 6+

to comply in appearance but oppose in heart; to overtly agree but covertly oppose; double-dealing

phrase
阳光明媚yángguāngmíngmèiHSK 7+

the sun shines brightly; sunny

phrase
阴错阳差yīn cuò yáng chāHSK 3+

see 陰差陽錯|阴差阳错

phrase
阴阳怪气yīnyángguàiqìHSK 3+

eccentric; peculiar; passive-aggressive

phrase

Showing 8 of 9 idioms containing 阳.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

阳字在不同的语境中有不同的用法。

yáng zì zài bù tóng de yǔ jìng zhōng yǒu bù tóng de yòng fǎ .

The character "yang" has different usages in different contexts.

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

中国德国商会欧阳利文:德中经济合作仍有更大空间

zhōng guó dé guó shāng huì ōu yáng lì wén : dé zhōng jīng jì gě zuò réng yǒu gēng dà kōng jiān

Ouyang Liwen of the German Chamber of Commerce in China: There is still more room for German-Chinese economic cooperation

EttodayFeb 2026

NBA 史上最严厉处分?快艇涉嫌9亿元阴阳约 美记曝雷纳德合约恐作废

N B A shǐ shàng zuì yán lì chǔ fēn ? kuài tǐng shè xián 9 yì yuán yīn yáng yuē měi jì pù léi nà dé gě yuē kǒng zuò fèi

The toughest punishment in NBA history? The Clippers are suspected of a 900 million yuan yin-yang contract, and Meiji revealed that Leonard's contract may be invalidated

大紀元 | 大紀元新聞網Feb 2026

组图:太阳风暴来袭时 出现令人惊叹的极光

zǔ tú : tài yáng fēng bào lái xí shí chū xiàn lìng rén jīng tàn de jí guāng

Picture: Stunning aurora appears when a solar storm hits

公視新聞網 PnnFeb 2026

《阳光女子合唱团》票房破6亿元 打破《海角七...

yáng guāng nǚ zǐ gě chàng tuán piào fáng pò 6 yì yuán dǎ pò hǎi jiǎo qī . . .

"Sunshine Women's Choir" box office exceeded 600 million yuan to break the "Cape Seven...

東方日報Feb 2026

父亲睹儿子从阳台堕下 伸手成功接住

fù qīn dǔ ér zǐ cóng yáng tái duò xià shēn shǒu chéng gōng jiē zhù

The father saw his son fall from the balcony and reached out to catch it

Tatoeba

美丽的夕阳,不是吗?

Měilì de xīyáng, bùshìma?

A beautiful sunset, isn't it?

Tatoeba

太阳和地球哪个更大?

Tàiyang hé dìqiú nǎge gèng dà?

Which is bigger, the Sun or the Earth?

Tatoeba

太阳系中有多少行星?

Tàiyángxì zhōng yǒu duōshao xíngxīng?

How many planets are there in the solar system?

Tatoeba

你在阳台上做什么?

Nǐ zài yángtái shàng zuò shénme?

What are you doing on the balcony?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced yáng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 阳 (yáng) mean in Chinese?
阳 (yáng) primarily means "positive (electric.)." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #650 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 阳 and 母?
阳 (yáng) and 母 (mǔ) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 阳 (male) vs 母 (female).
How many strokes does 阳 have?
阳 is written with 6 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 阳?
The radical associated with 阳 is 阝 (mound). This radical appears in many characters related to mound.
What are the components of 阳?
阳 is composed of: 阝 (structural), 日 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰阝日 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 阳?
Common words with 阳 include: 太阳 (tài yang, "sun"); 阳光 (yáng guāng, "sunshine"); 阳台 (yáng tái, "variant of 陽臺|阳台"); 阳性 (yáng xìng, "positive"); 太阳系 (tài yáng xì, "solar system"). There are over 107 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 阳 (yáng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation yáng: 样 (manner), 养 (to raise (animals)), 洋 (ocean), 央 (center), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 阳 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 阳 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 阳 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.