眠 meaning and stroke order
Sleep, shut-eye, hibernatation
How to write 眠, stroke by stroke
10 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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- 10
Meaning of 眠
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- to sleep
- to hibernate
How 眠 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Eye.
目 gives the meaning and 民 hints at the sound.
Radical: 目 (eye), shared by 100 characters on this site.
How to remember 眠
眠 combines the eye 目 with 民 (mín), which gives the sound. Picture people 民 closing their eyes 目 at night, and they fall asleep.
眠 is rarely used alone in speech. It mostly appears in compounds like 睡眠 (shuìmián), 失眠 (shīmián), and 冬眠 (dōngmián), and it sounds more formal or written than 睡 (shuì). Example: 我最近经常失眠。(Wǒ zuìjìn jīngcháng shīmián.) I often have insomnia lately.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes write the right side as 氏 or mix up 眠 with 民 itself. 民 has an extra horizontal stroke at the top compared with 氏. Also note the tone: 眠 is second tone mián, not third tone like 免 (miǎn).
Common words with 眠
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 睡眠 | shuìmián | sleep; to sleep | HSK 5 |
| 催眠 | cuīmián | to lull to sleep; to hypnotize | HSK 7-9 |
| 安眠药 | ānmiányào | sleeping pill | HSK 7-9 |
| 失眠 | shīmián | to suffer from insomnia | HSK 7-9 |
| 休眠 | xiūmián | (biology) dormant; (of a volcano) dormant | HSK 7-9 |
| 冬眠 | dōngmián | to hibernate; hibernation | |
| 长眠 | chángmián | (euphemism) to rest eternally; to lie buried in (one's final resting place) | |
| 入眠 | rùmián | to fall asleep | |
| 安眠 | ānmián | to sleep peacefully |
眠 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 眠
How many strokes are in 眠?
眠 is written with 10 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 眠 mean?
眠 (mián) means sleep, shut-eye, hibernatation. A common word with it is 睡眠 (shuìmián), meaning "sleep; to sleep".
How do you pronounce 眠?
眠 is pronounced mián, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 眠?
The radical of 眠 is 目, which carries the idea of "eye". Dictionaries list 眠 under this radical.
Is 眠 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 眠 is part of the HSK 5 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
What is the difference between 睡 and 眠?
睡 (shuì) is the everyday verb for sleeping, as in 我要睡觉 (wǒ yào shuìjiào). 眠 is more literary and usually appears inside fixed words like 睡眠 or 失眠.
How do you say someone cannot sleep at night in Chinese?
Use 失眠 (shīmián), literally to lose sleep. For example, 他昨晚失眠了 (tā zuówǎn shīmián le) means he could not sleep last night.