说明
shuōmíng · HSK 2
explain
📖 说明 = speak (说) + bright/clear (明) → make clear by speaking
说 means 'speak/say' and 明 means 'bright' or 'clear' (sun 日 + moon 月 together = light). Together they mean to explain something by making it verbally clear — an explanation, instructions, a clarification.
说 — speech radical 讠(言) + 兑
说 combines the speech radical 讠(言, 'words') with 兑, which acts as the phonetic component. The character originally meant 'to explain' or 'to speak,' and broadened to mean 'say' or 'talk.' The same graph is also read 'yuè' meaning 'pleased,' a sense later written 悦.