明白

míng bai

HSK 2.0 Level 3 HSK 3.0 Level 3 Adjective Very common

Definitions

1. clear
2. obvious
3. unequivocal
4. to understand
5. to realize

Word relationships

Antonyms

1 item

糊涂

hú tu

muddled

思路混乱

Related words

1 item

理解

lǐ jiě

to comprehend; to understand

深入领会

Synonyms

2 items

懂

dǒng

to understand

知道或理解意思

清楚

qīng chu

clear

清晰易懂

Usage notes

Collocations

Common in the phrase 我不明白 (I don't understand).

Common mistakes

明白 cannot be directly followed by a noun to mean 'understand a person'; use 理解 instead.

Grammar

Guides that feature 明白

Jump into a full guide with fill-in-the-blank drills. Clicking will load the page and move you to the top.

1 guide

HSK 2.0 Level 1+ HSK 3.0 Level 1+ 6 min

了 for Change and Completion

Recognize two early uses of 了: completed actions and new situations.

Reading: míng bai Open guide

Example Sentences

5 shown

我明白你的用意。

I understand your intention.

我不明白这个问题。

I don't understand this question.

哦，我明白了！

Oh, I see!

此时，他明白了真相。

At this moment, he understood the truth.

嗯，我明白了。

Mm, I understand.

AI-generated examples are marked with this icon.

Words Containing 明白

弄明白

nòng míng bai

to figure out how to do something

揣着明白装糊涂

chuāi zhe míng bai zhuāng hú tu

to pretend to not know

放着明白装糊涂

fàng zhe míng bai zhuāng hú tu

to pretend not to know (idiom)

Child Words of 明白

white

bright