月 4 strokes

月 yuè — moon; month

4 strokes · radical 月 · HSK 1

A way to remember it

A crescent, not a full moon — the moon is drawn at the shape you can tell apart from the sun. It doubles as the word for month, because a month is one cycle of it.

A picture that makes the shape stick — not a claim about the character’s history.

A crescent, not a full moon — the moon is drawn at the shape you can tell apart from the sun.

Words it turns up in

月亮一月

Lists it belongs to

一二三人 Your first 20 characters 20 characters 中秋月圆 Mid-Autumn characters 15 characters 日月山水 Characters that are still pictures 24 characters 一二七八 HSK 1 core characters 86 characters

Characters near this one

Quick check — what does 月 mean?

Reading that mentions 月

7 Chinese characters that are still drawings — the fastest win for day-one learners Start here