苗 meaning and stroke order
Young plant; seedling; (bound form) young animal raised for farming or aquaculture (e.g. 魚苗|鱼苗[yu2 miao2]); (bound form) offspring; descendant
How to write 苗, stroke by stroke
8 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 苗
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- young plant; seedling
- (bound form) young animal raised for farming or aquaculture (e.g. 魚苗|鱼苗[yu2 miao2])
- (bound form) offspring; descendant
- (bound form) sign or indication of sth (e.g. 苗頭|苗头[miao2 tou5], 礦苗|矿苗[kuang4 miao2])
- (bound form) vaccine
How 苗 is built
Ideographic (compound meaning) character. Grass 艹 growing in a field 田.
Radical: 艹 (grass), shared by 421 characters on this site.
How to remember 苗
Picture grass 艹 poking up out of a field 田. Those little green shoots in the field are 苗 (miáo), young seedlings.
苗 rarely stands alone in modern speech and mostly appears in words like 禾苗 (hémiáo, grain seedlings), 疫苗 (yìmiáo, vaccine) and 苗条 (miáotiao, slim). It also describes small things that look like shoots, such as 火苗 (huǒmiáo, a small flame). Example: 你打疫苗了吗？(Nǐ dǎ yìmiáo le ma?) Have you had your vaccine?
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 苗 with 描 (miáo, to trace or describe) and 猫 (māo, cat), which share the same sound part. Only 苗 has nothing on its left side. Also note that 苗条 is said with a neutral tone on 条: miáotiao.
Common words with 苗
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
苗 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Characters that contain 苗
Learning 苗 makes these easier to recognize and write.
Questions about 苗
How many strokes are in 苗?
苗 is written with 8 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 苗 mean?
苗 (miáo) means young plant; seedling; (bound form) young animal raised for farming or aquaculture (e.g. 魚苗|鱼苗[yu2 miao2]); (bound form) offspring; descendant. A common word with it is 疫苗 (yìmiáo), meaning "vaccine".
How do you pronounce 苗?
苗 is pronounced miáo, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 苗?
The radical of 苗 is 艹, which carries the idea of "grass". Dictionaries list 苗 under this radical.
Is 苗 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 苗 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
What does 苗头 mean, and is it positive or negative?
苗头 (miáotou) means the first signs of something developing, like a trend just starting to show. It can be neutral or negative depending on context, for example 有不好的苗头 (there are signs of trouble).
Is 苗 also an ethnic group or a surname?
Yes. 苗族 (Miáozú) is the Miao people, one of China's ethnic minorities, and 苗 is also used as a Chinese surname.