How to Write 昱 (yù) — Meaning “Bright light / Sunlight”

Imagine the sun (日) standing (立) high in the sky, pouring down bright rays. The image of a standing sun helps you recall that 昱 means bright sunlight. You can also think of the word "yù" sounding like "you" — the sun is shining on you.

Write 日 first as a narrow rectangle, then add 立 below. The top horizontal stroke of 立 should be shorter than the bottom long horizontal line. A common mistake is making the 日 too wide or misaligning the vertical center of 立 with 日.

昱 (yù, bright sunlight) has 日 on top and 立 below, while 旰 (gàn, evening/sunset) has 日 on the left and 干 on the right. 旱 (hàn, drought) also has 日 on top but with 干 below. The bottom part 立 vs 干 is the key visual difference, and their meanings are unrelated.

昱 is mostly used in literary or formal contexts, such as in names and classical phrases. For example, 昱日 means "tomorrow" or "the next day" in classical style. It is not part of the HSK vocabulary, so you will mainly encounter it in poetry, names, or elegant writing.

Common words containing 昱 include: 昱日 (yù rì) — Tomorrow / The next day; 昱昱 (yù yù) — Bright and shining; 昱光 (yù guāng) — Bright light.