暁 means “daybreak, dawn”

あかつき · akatsuki

Also: in the event

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

あかつき, さとる

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ギョウ, キョウ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 12 strokes

The story

The sun (日) beside 尭, piled high: the sky lighting up above the hills before sunrise. 暁 is daybreak, as in the old line 春眠暁を覚えず, spring sleep misses the dawn, and 〜の暁には is the day something finally comes true.

Used in 暁 (akatsuki, dawn) and 成功の暁 (seikou no akatsuki, the day success comes)

More from Light & Shadow

• 闇 darkness
• 宵 evening
• 旦 dawn
• 昭 bright
• 宙 midair
• 透 transparent
• 輝 shine
• 雰 atmosphere
• 暖 warm
• 陰 shade

Learn 暁 and more kanji free on Fuji Learning · All kanji

Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.