The traditional characters 陰 (Yin) and 陽 (Yang) were simplified to 阴 and 阳 . In Chinese philosophy, the moon ( 月 ) corresponds to Yin ( 阴 ) and the sun ( 日 ) corresponds to Yang ( 阳 ).
月 Simplified component
Simplified from the traditional 陰 . Used here since the moon corresponds to the 'Yin' of 'Yin and Yang' in Chinese philosophy.
Oracle script
(~1250-1000 BC) Bronze script
Mid Western Zhou (~900 BC) Seal script
Shuowen (~100 AD) Clerical script
Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD) 阴 Traditional script Modern Traditional script
Modern 阴 Simplified script Modern Simplified script
Modern 'female' principle; dark; secret; overcast (weather); cloudy; shady; Yin (the negative principle of Yin and Yang); negative (electric.); feminine; moon; implicit; hidden; genitalia
Freq. Word Meaning
阴
cloudy
阴谋
plot
阴影
(lit. and fig.) shadow
阴道
vagina
阴性
negative
MoreMeaning component in 1 character (0 verified)
荫
Sound component in 1 character (0 verified)
荫
HSK level 2
Appears in 28.5920% of movies
1214th most common character in movies
987th most common character in books
Strokes
6
Traditional
Unicode
U+9634