TraceHanzi

咪 meaning and stroke order

mī

A cat's meow; a meter

9 strokesRadical 口
Strokes9
Pinyinmī
ToneTone 1
Frequency#1,462
Printable worksheet

How to write 咪, stroke by stroke

9 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.

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Meaning of 咪

Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.

mīfirst tone (high and level)
  1. sound for calling a cat

How 咪 is built

Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Mouth.

kǒumouth+mǐuncooked rice

口 gives the meaning and 米 hints at the sound.

Radical: 口 (mouth), shared by 428 characters on this site.

How to remember 咪

咪 is a mouth 口 on the left making a sound, plus 米 (mǐ) on the right giving the pronunciation. Picture a mouth calling "mī mī" to a cat while shaking a bowl of rice 米.

咪 is mostly used for cat sounds and cute, affectionate words. It appears in 猫咪 (māomī, kitty) and in the loanword 妈咪 (māmi, mommy). Example: 我家的猫咪很胖。(Wǒ jiā de māomī hěn pàng.) My kitty is very fat.

Common mistake: Learners often read 咪 with the third tone of 米 (mǐ), but 咪 is first tone mī. Also, in 妈咪 the second syllable is usually said lightly as māmi, not with a full first tone.

Common words with 咪

Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.

WordPinyinMeaningLevel
妈咪māmimommy (loanword)
咪咪mīmīoboe-like musical instrument used in folk music of Gansu, Qinghai etc; (onom.) meow
猫咪māomīkitty (affectionate term for a cat)

咪 in example sentences

Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.

怎zěn么me会huì有yǒu猫māo咪mī这zhè么me可kě爱ài的de生shēng物wù？
How can there exist a creature as adorable as a cat?
你nǐ认rèn为wéi什shén么me东dōng西xī比bǐ猫māo咪mī更gèng可kě爱ài？
What do you think is cuter than a cat?
妈mā咪mī，我wǒ可kě以yǐ去qù游yóu泳yǒng吗ma？
Mommy, may I go swimming?
猫māo咪mī被bèi洗xǐ后hòu很hěn生shēng气qì，看kàn到dào我wǒ就jiù跑pǎo。
The cat was very angry after having been washed. As soon as it saw me it ran.
她tā有yǒu两liǎng个gè很hěn大dà的de咪mī咪mī。
She has big boobs.

Questions about 咪

How many strokes are in 咪?

咪 is written with 9 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.

What does 咪 mean?

咪 (mī) means a cat's meow; a meter. A common word with it is 妈咪 (māmi), meaning "mommy (loanword)".

How do you pronounce 咪?

咪 is pronounced mī, in the first tone (high and level).

What is the radical of 咪?

The radical of 咪 is 口, which carries the idea of "mouth". Dictionaries list 咪 under this radical.

Is 咪咪 just the sound a cat makes?

It can mean meow, and people say 咪咪 to call a cat. It is also the name of a small oboe-like folk instrument from places like Gansu and Qinghai.

Why does the definition say 咪 can mean a meter?

This comes from sound borrowing, since 咪 sounds like the "me" in meter. It is rare in modern use. For meters, people normally write 米 (mǐ).