妙 meaning and stroke order
Clever; wonderful
How to write 妙, stroke by stroke
7 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
Meaning of 妙
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- clever
- wonderful
- variant of 妙[miao4]
How 妙 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Woman.
女 gives the meaning and 少 hints at the sound.
Radical: 女 (woman), shared by 156 characters on this site.
How to remember 妙
妙 is built from 女 (nǚ, woman) as the meaning part and 少 (shǎo) as the sound part. Picture a young woman (女 + 少, young) whose charm is subtle and wonderful.
妙 rarely stands alone in modern speech except in phrases like 太妙了 (tài miào le, brilliant). It mostly appears in words such as 奇妙 (qímiào), 巧妙 (qiǎomiào), 微妙 (wēimiào) and the idiom 莫名其妙 (mòmíngqímiào). Example: 这个办法很巧妙。(Zhège bànfǎ hěn qiǎomiào.) This method is very clever.
Common mistake: Learners often read 妙 as shǎo because of the 少 part, but it is miào with a falling fourth tone. Also do not confuse it with 秒 (miǎo, second), which shares 少 but has the 禾 radical and a third tone.
Common words with 妙
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 奇妙 | qímiào | wonderful; marvelous; intriguing; mysterious; strange | HSK 6 |
| 巧妙 | qiǎomiào | ingenious; clever; ingenuity; artifice | HSK 6 |
| 美妙 | měimiào | beautiful; wonderful | HSK 7-9 |
| 莫名其妙 | mòmíngqímiào | (idiom) baffling; bizarre; without rhyme or reason; inexplicable | HSK 7-9 |
| 微妙 | wēimiào | subtle | HSK 7-9 |
| 精妙 | jīngmiào | exquisite; fine and delicate (usu. of works of art) | HSK 7-9 |
| 不妙 | bùmiào | (of a turn of events) not too encouraging; far from good | |
| 绝妙 | juémiào | exquisite | |
| 妙不可言 | miàobùkěyán | too wonderful for words | |
| 妙计 | miàojì | excellent plan; brilliant scheme |
妙 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 妙
How many strokes are in 妙?
妙 is written with 7 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 妙 mean?
妙 (miào) means clever; wonderful. A common word with it is 奇妙 (qímiào), meaning "wonderful; marvelous; intriguing; mysterious; strange".
How do you pronounce 妙?
妙 is pronounced miào, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 妙?
The radical of 妙 is 女, which carries the idea of "woman". Dictionaries list 妙 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 妙?
The traditional form of 妙 is 玅. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 妙 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 妙 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 妙 is part of the HSK 6 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
Does 莫名其妙 mean something good or bad?
Usually it is negative or puzzled, meaning baffling or for no clear reason. For example, 他莫名其妙地生气了 (tā mòmíngqímiào de shēngqì le) means he got angry for no apparent reason. It does not mean wonderful, even though 妙 is in it.
What does 不妙 mean in everyday use?
不妙 (bùmiào) means a situation is not looking good. People say 情况不妙 (qíngkuàng bùmiào), meaning things are going badly. It is a common way to sense trouble coming.