文明 wénmíng civilized
civilized; civilization; culture
How to remember 文明: 文 culture + 明 bright = civilized.
Characters
How it is used
- Two roles: civilization (noun) - 古代文明 (gǔdài wénmíng) ancient civilization; and civilized/well-mannered (adj.) - 文明礼貌 (wénmíng lǐmào) civil and polite, 请文明用语 (qǐng wénmíng yòngyǔ) please use polite language.
- The adjective sense appears constantly on public-etiquette signs (讲文明 be civilized).
- Contrast 文化 (wénhuà, culture); 文明 is a higher-order stage of societal development or the quality of civility.
Example sentences
- 一个国家纸的产量和它的文明程度密切相关。 Yígè guójiā zhǐ de chǎnliàng hé tā de wénmíng chéngdù mìqièxiāngguān.The amount of paper produced by a country is closely related to its cultural standards.