映

• Pinyin: yìng
• Hanzi breakdown: 映 = 日 + 央 (sun/light + centre — light striking a surface, reflection or projection)

Meaning

To reflect; to shine onto; to project (light or an image). Used for light reflecting on water, colours contrasting, or images being cast.

Appears in compounds: 放映 (to screen a film), 倒映 (to be reflected in water), 映照 (to illuminate/reflect), 映衬 (to set off by contrast). Widely used in literary and descriptive language. Can also mean to project or screen (a film). In compound 映射 it means to map or reflect symbolically.

Examples

1. 清晨薄雾中，金色阳光斜映在古运河水面，倒映出两岸白墙黛瓦的民居。 In the morning mist, golden sunlight slanted onto the old canal and reflected the white-walled, dark-tiled houses on both banks.
2. 这座玻璃幕墙博物馆通过特殊角度设计，把城市景观和云影映在建筑表皮上。 This glass-curtain museum uses a special angle design to project the cityscape and cloud shadows onto its exterior.
3. 修复后的影院重新放映这部黑白经典，观众在大银幕上重温了它独特的诗意光影。 After restoration, the cinema screened this black-and-white classic again, and audiences revisited its unique poetic light and shadow on the big screen.

Usage Guide

Context: nature, literature, cinema, architecture

Tone: descriptive

Do Say

• 摄影师等了三天，终于在雨后清晨拍到峨眉山云海映在湖面的瞬间。(After waiting three days, the photographer finally captured the moment when the sea of clouds over Mount Emei was reflected on the lake surface on a clear morning after rain.)
• 这部改编电影口碑不一，评论界认为导演用光线和色调把小说的暧昧氛围映到银幕上。(This adaptation received mixed reviews, but critics felt the director used light and colour to reflect the novel's ambiguous atmosphere on screen.)

Don't Say

• 太阳映在我脸上 — 映 implies a reflection or projection of light onto a surface; for direct sunlight on a face, say 阳光照在我脸上; 映 is more appropriate for light reflecting off water or walls

Origin & History

映 = 日 (sun/light) + 央 (centre — phonetic component; originally 映 depicted sunlight hitting the centre of a surface, hence reflection or projection of light)

Cultural Context

Era: Classical–Modern

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal