明日
あした · ashita · JLPT N5 · noun
tomorrow
🌅 明日 = bright (明) + day (日): the next bright day is tomorrow
明 means bright or dawning, 日 means day, so the compound is literally the day that dawns next. The reading ashita is a special whole-word reading, said to come from an old word for morning (asa) — the coming morning became tomorrow.
日 — pictograph of the sun
日 is a pictograph of the sun, originally drawn as a circle with a dot or stroke inside representing the sun's substance. Over time the round shape was squared off into the modern rectangular form. It means 'sun' and by extension 'day'.
あす · asu · JLPT N4 · noun
tomorrow
🌅📅 明日 = bright + day: the next bright day is tomorrow
明 means bright and 日 means day or sun, so the word is literally the bright day that follows tonight. The reading asu is a special whole-word reading, close to asa (morning): tomorrow starts with the next asa.
日 — pictograph of the sun
日 is a pictograph of the sun, originally drawn as a circle with a dot or stroke inside representing the sun's substance. Over time the round shape was squared off into the modern rectangular form. It means 'sun' and by extension 'day'.