分明

Chinese

		to divide; minute; (a measure word) to divide; minute; (a measure word); (a unit of leng)	clear; bright; to understand clear; bright; to understand; next; the Ming dynasty
trad. (分明)		分	明
simp. #(分明)		分	明

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): fēnmíng

  (Zhuyin): ㄈㄣ ㄇㄧㄥˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): fan¹ ming⁴

• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): fûn-mìn
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): hun-bêng

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)
    • Hanyu Pinyin: fēnmíng
    • Zhuyin: ㄈㄣ ㄇㄧㄥˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: fenmíng
    • Wade–Giles: fên¹-ming²
    • Yale: fēn-míng
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: fenming
    • Palladius: фэньмин (fɛnʹmin)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /fən⁵⁵ miŋ³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: fan¹ ming⁴
    • Yale: fān mìhng
    • Cantonese Pinyin: fan¹ ming⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: fen¹ ming⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /fɐn⁵⁵ mɪŋ²¹/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: fûn-mìn
    • Hakka Romanization System: fun^ˊ min^ˇ
    • Hagfa Pinyim: fun¹ min²
    • Sinological IPA: /fun²⁴ min¹¹/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: hun-bêng
    • Tâi-lô: hun-bîng
    • Phofsit Daibuun: hunbeeng
    • IPA (Xiamen): /hun⁴⁴⁻²² biɪŋ²⁴/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /hun³³ biɪŋ²⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /hun⁴⁴⁻²² biɪŋ¹³/
    • IPA (Taipei): /hun⁴⁴⁻³³ biɪŋ²⁴/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /hun⁴⁴⁻³³ biɪŋ²³/

---

• Middle Chinese: pjun mjaeng

Rime
Character	分	明
Reading #	1/2	1/1
Initial (聲)	幫 (1)	明 (4)
Final (韻)	文 (59)	庚 (111)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Closed	Open
Division (等)	III	III
Fanqie	府文切	武兵切
Baxter	pjun	mjaeng
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/pɨun/	/mˠiæŋ/
Pan Wuyun	/piun/	/mᵚiaŋ/
Shao Rongfen	/piuən/	/miaŋ/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/pun/	/miajŋ/
Li Rong	/piuən/	/miɐŋ/
Wang Li	/pĭuən/	/mĭɐŋ/
Bernard Karlgren	/pi̯uən/	/mi̯ɐŋ/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	fēn	míng
Expected Cantonese Reflex	fan1	ming4

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*pə[n]  mraŋ/

  (Zhengzhang): /*pɯn  mraŋ/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	分	明
Reading #	1/2	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	fēn	míng
Middle Chinese	‹ pjun ›	‹ mjæng ›
Old Chinese	/*pə[n]/	/*mraŋ/
English	divide	bright
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	分	明
Reading #	1/2	1/1
No.	3148	9188
Phonetic component	分	明
Rime group	文	陽
Rime subdivision	1	0
Corresponding MC rime	分	明
Old Chinese	/*pɯn/	/*mraŋ/

Adjective

分明

1. clear; evident; plain; distinct

   四季分明  ―  sìjì fēnmíng  ―  to have four distinct seasons

Synonyms

edit

• 分曉／分晓 (fēnxiǎo)
• 明白
• 明瞭／明了 (míngliǎo)
• 明確／明确 (míngquè)
• 清晰 (qīngxī)
• 清朗 (qīnglǎng)
• 清楚
• 疏朗 (shūlǎng) (literary)
• 鮮明／鲜明 (xiānmíng)

 

Derived terms

• 一三五不論，二四六分明／一三五不论，二四六分明
• 二分明月
• 五分明兒／五分明儿
• 來去分明／来去分明
• 公私分明
• 壁壘分明／壁垒分明
• 層序分明／层序分明
• 層次分明／层次分明
• 恩怨分明
• 愛憎分明／爱憎分明 (àizēngfēnmíng)
• 是非分明 (shìfēifēnmíng)
• 曲直分明
• 條理分明／条理分明
• 涇渭分明／泾渭分明 (jīngwèifēnmíng)
• 白黑分明
• 賞罰分明／赏罚分明 (shǎngfá fēnmíng)
• 輸贏無定，報應分明／输赢无定，报应分明
• 黑白分明

 

Adverb

分明

1. clearly; evidently; plainly; distinctly

   這分明是歧視。／这分明是歧视。  ―  Zhè fēnmíng shì qíshì.  ―  This is clearly discriminatory.

Synonyms

edit

• 明明 (míngmíng)
• 現現／现现 (Hokkien)
• 顯然／显然 (xiǎnrán)
• 顯而易見／显而易见 (xiǎn'éryìjiàn)

 

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (分明):

• → Japanese: 分(ぶん)明(めい) (bunmei); 分(ぶん)明(みょう) (bunmyō); 分(ふん)明(みょう) (funmyō)
• → Korean: 분명(分明) (bunmyeong)
• → Vietnamese: phân minh (分明)

References

• “Entry #677”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2024.

Korean

Hanja in this term
分	明

Noun

分明 • (bunmyeong) (hangeul 분명)

1. hanja form^? of 분명 (“clarity; clearness”)

Vietnamese

chữ Hán Nôm in this term
分	明

Adjective

分明

1. chữ Hán form of phân minh (“clear-cut, definite”). (Nguyễn, 1974)