旭

A phono-semantic compound:

日 (sun; day) — semantic component, directly indicates the sun and its light;

九 (nine) — phonetic component, supplies the reading 욱 (uk / xù), used purely for sound with no semantic contribution.

旭 is used in literary, classical, and personal name contexts.

In modern Korean it rarely appears in ordinary writing but remains common as a name character, typically as the final syllable: 동욱 (東旭), 진욱 (晉旭), 현욱 (賢旭) and similar.

욱일 (旭日) — the rising sun; morning sun

욱광 (旭光) — radiance of the morning sun; first light

旭 carries an inherently positive, auspicious register — the image of the sun climbing at dawn, full of promise. This makes it a natural choice for given names, particularly male names in Korea, where it conventionally appears as the final character.

Because of its meaning "rising sun," 旭 became one of the kanji associated with Japan as a national symbol. During the colonial period (1910–1945) the character appeared in place names and school names across the Korean peninsula — 아사히마치 (旭町), 아사히 국민학교 (旭 國民學校) and others. Following liberation in 1945 all such place names and institutional names were renamed.

The same symbolism underlies the 욱일기 (旭日旗), the Rising Sun Flag used by the Imperial Japanese military, which remains a historically sensitive symbol in Korea and China.

Related characters:

日 — sun; day (semantic root)

曉 — dawn; daybreak

晨 — morning; early hour

暉 — sunlight; radiance

昇 — to rise (of the sun)

Classical citations:

《文選》 (Wenxuan, Anthology of Literature)

「旭日昇天，光被四表」

"The morning sun rises to the sky, its light spreading to the four horizons."

A representative literary use of 旭日 evoking majesty and reach.