Chinese character for star: 星 (xīng)
The Chinese character for star is 星 (xīng). It means star or planet and appears in 星星 (xīngxing, stars) and 明星 (míngxīng, celebrity, star). It is also used in names of planets, like 火星 (Mars).
How 星 is built
星 has 日 (rì, sun) on top and 生 (shēng, to grow, to be born) below. 生 gives the sound. Ancient forms showed three small circles of light, later reduced to one 日, so the top is really a point of light rather than the sun. As a memory aid, stars are lights born in the night sky. It is identical in simplified and traditional Chinese.
星 xīng · star
- 日rì — sun; day
- 口kǒu — mouth
- 冂 — frame
- 一 — horizontal stroke
- 一 — horizontal stroke
- 口kǒu — mouth
- 生shēng — life
- 一 — horizontal stroke
- 土tǔ — earth
- 十 — ten
- 一 — horizontal stroke
Origin hint: 日 gives the meaning, 生 gives the sound. (from the Make Me a Hanzi dataset; treat as a memory aid where history is uncertain)
How 星 is used
Other ways to say star
- 星星 xīngxing — stars in the sky, the everyday word
Before you use it as a tattoo or design: 星 is identical in both scripts; 星星 sounds childlike and sweet, while 星 alone is more elegant.
Questions
What is the Chinese character for star?
星 (xīng) means “star”.
How do you pronounce 星?
星 is pronounced xīng.