彌 meaning and stroke order
Complete, extensive, full; to fill
How to write 彌, stroke by stroke
17 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 彌
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- full
- to fill
- completely
- more
How 彌 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Bow.
弓 gives the meaning and 爾 hints at the sound.
Radical: 弓 (bow), shared by 29 characters on this site.
How to remember 彌
彌 is a sound-meaning character: 弓 (gōng, bow) gives the meaning hint and 爾 (ěr) gives the sound. Picture a bow drawn fully, stretched to its limit, to remember the idea of being full or filling something completely.
彌 is the traditional form of 弥 and rarely appears alone in modern Chinese. It mostly shows up in set words like 彌補 (míbǔ, to make up for) and 彌漫 (mímàn, to fill the air). Example: 霧氣彌漫 (wùqì mímàn) The fog filled the air.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 彌 with 爾 (ěr) or 璽 (xǐ) because they share the 爾 part. Remember that 彌 has 弓 on the left and is read mí with a rising second tone, not ěr.
Common words with 彌
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
Characters that contain 彌
Learning 彌 makes these easier to recognize and write.
Questions about 彌
How many strokes are in 彌?
彌 is written with 17 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 彌 mean?
彌 (mí) means complete, extensive, full; to fill. A common word with it is 弥补 (míbǔ), meaning "to complement; to make up for a deficiency".
How do you pronounce 彌?
彌 is pronounced mí, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 彌?
The radical of 彌 is 弓, which carries the idea of "bow". Dictionaries list 彌 under this radical.
What is the simplified form of 彌?
彌 is a traditional character. Its simplified form is 弥, used in mainland China and Singapore.
How is 彌 used in Buddhist terms?
It appears in transliterations such as 彌勒 (Mílè, Maitreya) and 須彌山 (Xūmíshān, Mount Sumeru). In these words it represents sound rather than the meaning full.
What does the phrase 欲蓋彌彰 mean?
欲蓋彌彰 (yù gài mí zhāng) means the more you try to hide something, the more obvious it becomes. Here 彌 carries the sense of more, one of its listed meanings.