宵

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wee hours

On-Yomi: ショウ — Kun-Yomi: よい

Elements:

wee hours, house, resemblance, spark, candle, small, little, moon, month, flesh, part of the body

Heisig story:

As the key word hints, the kanji in this frame refers to the late evening or early morning hours, well after one should be in bed asleep. It does this by picturing a house with a candle in it. The reason is obvious: whoever is living there is "burning the candle at both ends," and working night after night into the wee hours.

Koohii stories:

1) [mikes] 7-5-2007(239): I burn the CANDLE in my HOUSE until the WEE HOURS reviewing the kanji!!!

2) [PeterJD] 3-4-2008(87): I agree with elktapestry. This kanji really means "early evening", not "wee hours" [Heisig really should have done his homework on this and several other characters (e.g., #145 "but of course" – what the hell???). Oh well.] "Every house lights candles in the EARLY EVENING which stay lit until the wee hours". E.G. 宵の口 （よいのくち）early evening; 今宵 （こよい）this evening; tonight.

3) [elktapestry] 27-3-2007(55): The fixed definition of this Kanji that Hesig gives seems deceptive and misleading. This not only refers to wee hours of the morning but also Evening and Early Night. So it seems to span the whole range of times when one might need a candle to work within the confines of one's house without daylight. Shows me that I can never trust one source of information exclusively, especially not Hesig. I thank him for this sytem of memorization, but still…

4) [dingomick] 8-2-2007(12): In the log house the wee hours are spent studying by candlelight.

5) [krungthep] 9-5-2008(5): In the wee hours I usually stay at home lit by a candle playing with my little bit of flesh until it bears resemblance to a candle.

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