Yin yang (陰陽 / 阴阳)
| yīn yáng | (Pinyin)
Definition
- (in Chinese philosophy and religion) two principles, one negative, dark, and feminine (yin) and one positive, bright, and masculine (yang) whose interaction influences the destinies of creatures and things
Etymology
Chinese “shady side [and] sunny side”, semantically “shady side of a hill [and] sunny side of a hill”
- 陰: Radical阝(fù,“hill”; original form 阜 or 邑) + 侌 (yīn, “cloudy”, semantically “presence of clouds”), itself made of 今 (jīn, “now” or “present”) and 云 (yūn, “cloud”)
- 阴: Radical阝(fù,“hill”; original form 阜 or 邑) + 月 (yuè, “moon”)
- 陽: Radical阝(fù,“hill”; original form 阜 or 邑) + 昜 (yáng, “bright”, semantically “sun rays coming down”), itself made of 日 (rì, “sun”) and 勿 (wù, “rays coming down”)
- 阳: Radical阝(fù,“hill”; original form 阜 or 邑) + 日 (rì, “sun”)
In Other Languages
- 한국어: 음양 (eumyang)
- 日本語: 陰陽 (いんよ、おんよ、おんみょ)
- Tiếng Việt: âm dương
Definition taken from Dictionary.com.
Aloy Chua 