‘Míng yù’ (明喻) is a rhetorical device in Chinese literature and rhetoric, meaning ‘explicit metaphor’—a comparison that directly states one thing is like another using words such as ‘like’ (像) or ‘as if’ (好像). The character 明 (míng) means ‘clear’ or ‘explicit’, while 喻 (yù) means ‘to illustrate’ or ‘to compare’. Together, they denote a metaphor made unmistakably clear to the reader or listener, unlike implicit metaphors (暗喻, àn yù) which suggest resemblance without comparative markers.

This term appears frequently in literary analysis, language textbooks, and writing instruction. It’s commonly taught alongside other figures of speech such as simile (the English equivalent), metaphor, and personification. Writers use míng yù to enhance imagery and emotional resonance—e.g., comparing courage to a roaring lion or silence to deep water. Though the term itself is formal and academic, the rhetorical pattern it names occurs naturally in everyday speech, poetry, and descriptive writing.