How to Write 暾 (tūn) — Meaning “the rising sun”

Imagine the sun (日) is like a rising ball of light, and the right part 敦 looks like a person with a hat raising their hands to greet the sun. The pinyin 'tūn' sounds like 'tune', so you can think of the sun rising to a cheerful morning tune.

The left radical 日 should be narrow and tall, not too wide. The right part 敦 has many strokes; pay special attention to the dot on top and the balanced structure of the bottom. A common mistake is making the left side too big, which makes the character look unbalanced.

暾 (tūn) means 'rising sun' and is bright, while 暝 (míng) means 'dusk' or 'dark' because it combines 日 with 冥 (dark). The rare character 㬎 (xiǎn) also relates to sunlight but is written differently (two 日 stacked or with 糸). Visually, 暾 has 敦 on the right, 暝 has 冥 on the right.

暾 is not common in everyday speech and is not part of HSK vocabulary. It appears mainly in classical poetry or literary descriptions of dawn, for example in the word 朝暾 (cháo tūn) meaning 'morning sun'. It carries a poetic and elegant feeling, often used to describe beautiful sunrises in nature.

Common words containing 暾 include: 朝暾 (cháo tūn) — Morning sun; sunrise; 暾暖 (tūn nuǎn) — warm sunlight from the rising sun; 暾暾 (tūn tūn) — bright (of the sun).