明白

míng bai

HSK 2.0 Level 3 HSK 3.0 Level 3 Adjective Very common

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Definitions

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

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Word relationships

Antonyms

1 item

• 糊涂 hú tu 糊涂 hú tu muddled 思路混乱: muddled

Related words

1 item

• 理解 lǐ jiě 理解 lǐ jiě to comprehend; to understand 深入领会: to comprehend; to understand

Synonyms

2 items

• 懂 dǒng 懂 dǒng to understand 知道或理解意思: to understand
• 清楚 qīng chu 清楚 qīng chu clear 清晰易懂: clear

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 弄明白 nòng míng bai: to figure out how to do something
• 揣着明白装糊涂 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 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

• 白 白 bái: white
• 明 明 míng: bright