■ radical

liàng

bright

How it’s built

Phonosemantic compound. 人 represents the meaning and 京 represents the sound. Depicts a person (人) in a high place (京).

人

meaning

person

京

sound

(high place); capital city — The pronunciation of 亮 was similar to 京 in old Chinese, but they no longer sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. 京 also serves as a meaning component.

Through the ages

Seal script

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