Looking up...
明天
míngtiān
tomorrow
明天我会去看医生。
I will go to the doctor tomorrow.
neutral
The day after today
明天是周末，我们可以放松一下。
Tomorrow is the weekend; we can relax a bit.
明天的天气预报说会下雨。
The weather forecast says it will rain tomorrow.
Used in both formal and informal contexts. Often paired with time expressions like '明天早上' (tomorrow morning) or '明天晚上' (tomorrow evening).
Pro Tip
Time Expressions with 明天
Combine '明天' with other time words to specify parts of the day: '明天上午' (tomorrow morning), '明天下午' (tomorrow afternoon), '明天晚上' (tomorrow night).
Gold Rule
Always Use 明天 for the Next Day
Unlike English, Chinese does not use 'the' before '明天'. It is simply '明天' (not 'the 明天').
Word Origin
Combines '明' (bright, clear) and '天' (day, sky), literally meaning 'bright day' or 'clear day'. Historically, it evolved to mean 'the next day' as a natural extension of its literal sense.
Usage Notes
In spoken Chinese, '明天' is universally understood. In written Chinese, it can sometimes be abbreviated as '明' in informal contexts (e.g., '明天见' → '明见'), but this is less common in formal writing.
Word Breakdown
明
bright, clear
root天
day, sky
root汉英词典