Chinese character for sky (heaven): 天 (tiān)
The Chinese character for sky and heaven is 天 (tiān). It means sky, heaven and day, and appears in 天空 (tiānkōng, sky) and 今天 (jīntiān, today). In traditional thought 天 is the heaven above, opposite 地, the earth below.
How 天 is built
天 is built from 大 (dà), a person standing with arms and legs spread, and a line above the head. The standard explanation is that the line marks what is above a person: the sky. As a memory aid, it is the space over your head. 天 is used for 'day' because each day is one turn of the sky. It is identical in simplified and traditional Chinese.
天 tiān · day
- 一 — horizontal stroke
- 大dà — big
- 一 — horizontal stroke
- 人rén — person
Origin hint: The heavens 一 above a man 大 (from the Make Me a Hanzi dataset; treat as a memory aid where history is uncertain)
How 天 is used
Other ways to say sky (heaven)
- 天空 tiānkōng — the sky you look up at
Before you use it as a tattoo or design: 天 alone is widely read as heaven or sky but also 'day', so 天空 is clearer if you mean the sky.
Questions
What is the Chinese character for sky (heaven)?
天 (tiān) means “sky”.
How do you pronounce 天?
天 is pronounced tiān.