Chinese character for spring (season): 春 (chūn)

The Chinese character for spring is 春 (chūn). It means the spring season and appears in 春天 (chūntiān, spring) and 春节 (Chūn Jié, Spring Festival, Chinese New Year). It also carries feelings of youth and new life.

How 春 is built

春 has 日 (rì, sun) at the bottom and an upper part that, in ancient forms, showed plants sprouting from the ground. The sun warms the earth and the plants push upward: spring. Over time the top part merged into the shape you see today. As a memory aid, see the sun under new growth. It is identical in simplified and traditional Chinese and is pasted upside down on doors at New Year.

春 chūn · spring

• 日rì — sun; day
  • 口kǒu — mouth
    • 冂 — frame
    • 一 — horizontal stroke
  • 一 — horizontal stroke

Origin hint: sun (from the Make Me a Hanzi dataset; treat as a memory aid where history is uncertain)

How 春 is used

Before you use it as a tattoo or design: 春 is identical in both scripts; it can also hint at romance in some words, so 春天 is the plain choice for 'spring'.

Questions

Related

• 夏summer
• 秋autumn (fall)
• 冬winter
• 花flower
• 生命life

Full page for 春 › All characters for words