分明

Chinese

		to divide; minute; (a measure word) to divide; minute; (a measure word); (a unit of leng)	clear; bright; to understand clear; bright; to understand; next; the Ming dynasty
trad. (分明)		分	明
simp. ^#(分明)		分	明

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): fēnmíng

(Zhuyin): ㄈㄣㄇㄧㄥˊ
Cantonese (Jyutping): fan¹ ming⁴
Hakka (Sixian, PFS): fûn-mìn
Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): hun-bêng

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: fēnmíng
  - Zhuyin: ㄈㄣㄇㄧㄥˊ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: fenmíng
  - Wade–Giles: fên¹-ming²
  - Yale: fēn-míng
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: fenming
  - Palladius: фэньмин (fɛnʹmin)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /fən⁵⁵ miŋ³⁵/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: fan¹ ming⁴
  - Yale: fān mìhng
  - Cantonese Pinyin: fan¹ ming⁴
  - Guangdong Romanization: fen¹ ming⁴
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /fɐn⁵⁵ mɪŋ²¹/
Hakka
- (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
  - Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: fûn-mìn
  - Hakka Romanization System: fun^ˊ min^ˇ
  - Hagfa Pinyim: fun¹ min²
  - Sinological IPA: /fun²⁴ min¹¹/
Southern Min
- (Hokkien)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: hun-bêng
  - Tâi-lô: hun-bîng
  - Phofsit Daibuun: hunbeeng
  - IPA (Xiamen): /hun⁴⁴⁻²² biɪŋ²⁴/
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /hun³³ biɪŋ²⁴/
  - IPA (Zhangzhou): /hun⁴⁴⁻²² biɪŋ¹³/
  - IPA (Taipei): /hun⁴⁴⁻³³ biɪŋ²⁴/
  - IPA (Kaohsiung): /hun⁴⁴⁻³³ biɪŋ²³/

Middle Chinese: pjun mjaeng

Rime
Character	分	明
Reading #	1/2	1/1
Initial (聲)	幫 (1)	明 (4)
Final (韻)	文 (59)	庚 (111)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Closed	Open
Division (等)	III	III
Fanqie	府文切	武兵切
Baxter	pjun	mjaeng
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/pɨun/	/mˠiæŋ/
Pan Wuyun	/piun/	/mᵚiaŋ/
Shao Rongfen	/piuən/	/miaŋ/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/pun/	/miajŋ/
Li Rong	/piuən/	/miɐŋ/
Wang Li	/pĭuən/	/mĭɐŋ/
Bernhard Karlgren	/pi̯uən/	/mi̯ɐŋ/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	fēn	míng
Expected Cantonese Reflex	fan¹	ming⁴

Old Chinese
(Baxter–Sagart): /*pə[n] mraŋ/

(Zhengzhang): /*pɯn mraŋ/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	分	明
Reading #	1/2	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	fēn	míng
Middle Chinese	‹ pjun ›	‹ mjæng ›
Old Chinese	/*pə[n]/	/*mraŋ/
English	divide	bright
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. [t] as coda may in fact be -t or -p; Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	分	明
Reading #	1/2	1/1
No.	3148	9188
Phonetic component	分	明
Rime group	文	陽
Rime subdivision	1	0
Corresponding MC rime	分	明
Old Chinese	/*pɯn/	/*mraŋ/

Adjective

分明

clear; evident; plain; distinct
四季分明 ― sìjì fēnmíng ― to have four distinct seasons

Synonyms

分曉 / 分晓 (fēnxiǎo)
明白
明瞭 / 明了 (míngliǎo)
明確 / 明确 (míngquè)
清晰 (qīngxī)
清朗 (qīnglǎng)
清楚
疏朗 (shūlǎng) (literary)
鮮明 / 鲜明 (xiānmíng)

Derived terms

一三五不論，二四六分明 / 一三五不论，二四六分明
二分明月
五分明兒 / 五分明儿
來去分明 / 来去分明
公私分明
壁壘分明 / 壁垒分明
層序分明 / 层序分明
層次分明 / 层次分明
恩怨分明
愛憎分明 / 爱憎分明 (àizēngfēnmíng)
是非分明 (shìfēifēnmíng)
曲直分明
條理分明 / 条理分明
涇渭分明 / 泾渭分明 (jīngwèifēnmíng)
白黑分明
賞罰分明 / 赏罚分明 (shǎngfá fēnmíng)
輸贏無定，報應分明 / 输赢无定，报应分明
黑白分明

Adverb

分明

clearly; evidently; plainly; distinctly
這分明是歧視。／这分明是歧视。 ― Zhè fēnmíng shì qíshì. ― This is clearly discriminatory.

Synonyms

明明 (míngmíng)
現現 / 现现 (Hokkien)
顯然 / 显然 (xiǎnrán)
顯而易見 / 显而易见 (xiǎn'éryìjiàn)

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (分明):

→ Japanese: 分(ぶん)明(めい) (bunmei); 分(ぶん)明(みょう) (bunmyō); 分(ふん)明(みょう) (funmyō)
→ Korean: 분명(分明) (bunmyeong)
→ Vietnamese: phân minh (分明)

References

“分明”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2025.

Korean

Hanja in this term
分	明

Noun

分明 • (bunmyeong) (hangeul 분명)

hanja form^? of 분명 (“clarity; clearness”)

Vietnamese

chữ Hán Nôm in this term
分	明

Adjective

分明

chữ Hán form of phân minh (“clear-cut, definite”) (Nguyễn, 1974)