太阳
sun; sunlight
HSK level
- Pinyin
- tàiyáng
- Part of speech
- noun
- Level
- HSK 3
- Strokes
- 10
- Register
- neutral
- Measure word
- 个 / 轮
- In episodes
- 1
Stroke order for 太阳
太阳 is written with 10 strokes (太: 4, 阳: 6). The animation replays automatically.
What does 太阳 mean?
太阳 (tàiyáng) is the everyday word for 'the sun.'
It also extends to mean 'sunshine / sunlight' in casual speech: 今天太阳很大 literally 'the sun is big today' really means 'it's very sunny today.' Useful patterns: 晒太阳 (shài tàiyáng) means 'to sunbathe / soak up sun' — Chinese frames it as 'letting the sun bake you,' which sounds odd in English. 出太阳 (chū tàiyáng, 'the sun comes out') describes a sunny day after clouds.
太阳能 (tàiyángnéng) is 'solar energy.' Culturally, the sun is associated with yang (阳) energy — warmth, masculinity, daytime — opposite of the moon (月亮) and yin. The shorter character 阳 alone means 'sun / yang / south side of a hill' and appears in many city names (Shenyang, Luoyang).
Character by character
Memory hook: 太 'extremely' + 阳 'bright/sun' = the extremely bright one — the sun.
Hear 太阳 in real episodes
太阳 appears in 1 Fluentide podcast episode at natural native speed. Each sentence plays at the easiest difficulty it exists in — switch it to hear the same moment at your level, with full pinyin and English throughout.
科学家说，她们会看太阳，所以不会走错。
Scientists say they navigate by the sun, so they don't get lost.
No Monarch Butterfly Ever Finishes Its Own Migration — the Trip Takes Four Generations
Example sentences
今天太阳很大。
Jīntiān tàiyáng hěn dà.
The sun is strong today / it's really sunny today.
spoken
太阳从东边出来。
Tàiyáng cóng dōngbiān chūlái.
The sun rises from the east.
neutral
我喜欢在公园里晒太阳。
Wǒ xǐhuan zài gōngyuán lǐ shài tàiyáng.
I like sunbathing in the park.
spoken
外面没有太阳，有点儿冷。
Wàimiàn méiyǒu tàiyáng, yǒudiǎnr lěng.
There's no sun outside, so it's a bit cold.
spoken
下午的太阳没有中午那么大。
Xiàwǔ de tàiyáng méiyǒu zhōngwǔ nàme dà.
The afternoon sun isn't as strong as the noon sun.
neutral
Common phrases with 太阳
Synonyms
阳光 specifically means 'sunlight / sunshine' (the light from the sun). 太阳 is the sun itself. You enjoy 阳光 (light), but you look at the 太阳 (the object).
Don't confuse 太阳 with
FAQ
Related words from the same episodes
Acquire it by listening
Meet 太阳 again — in real Chinese, at your level.
You just saw 太阳 in 1 episode. Fluentide keeps feeding you news episodes at your level, so this word — and thousands like it — resurface in real sentences until they stick. Full pinyin and translation every time. Free to start.