yīn

dark

The traditional characters (Yin) and (Yang) were simplified to and . In Chinese philosophy, the moon () corresponds to Yin () and the sun () corresponds to Yang ().

Components
阝 meaning component

  Meaning component

  

hill, place

is a component form of .

月 simplified component

  Simplified component

yuè

  

moon

Simplified from the traditional . Used here since the moon corresponds to the 'Yin' of 'Yin and Yang' in Chinese philosophy.

Evolution

阴 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
阴 Bronze script Mid Western Zhou (~900 BC)

Bronze script

Mid Western Zhou (~900 BC)
阴 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
阴 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
阴 Traditional script Modern

Traditional script

Modern
阴 Simplified script Modern

Simplified script

Modern
Definitions

() 

yīn

'female' principle; dark; secret; overcast (weather); cloudy; shady; Yin (the negative principle of Yin and Yang); negative (electric.); feminine; moon; implicit; hidden; genitalia

() 

Yīn

surname Yin

() 

yīn

variant of |[yīn]

Most common words with 阴
Freq.
Word
Meaning

cloudy

阴谋

plot

阴影

(lit. and fig.) shadow

阴道

vagina

阴性

negative

Component uses

Meaning component in 1 character (0 verified)

Sound component in 1 character (0 verified)

Statistics

HSK level 2

Appears in 28.5920% of movies

1214th most common character in movies

987th most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

6

Traditional

Unicode

U+9634


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