灭 meaning in English
to extinguish or put out; to go out (of a fire etc)
Meaning of 灭
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- to extinguish or put out
- to go out (of a fire etc)
- to exterminate or wipe out
- to drown
How to use 灭
灭 is used for putting out fires and lights, and in compounds it means wiping out or destroying, as in 消灭 (xiāomiè) and 灭绝 (mièjué). It often appears with a result complement, like 灭了 or 扑灭 (pūmiè). Example: 火已经灭了。(Huǒ yǐjīng miè le.) The fire has already gone out.
The simplified 灭 (miè) shows a flat line 一 pressed on top of fire 火 (huǒ). Picture a lid covering a flame to put it out.
Common mistake: Learners often write 灭 as 天 or 夫 because of the horizontal stroke on top. Remember the bottom is 火, not 大. Also, for switching off a lamp in everyday speech, people usually say 关灯 (guān dēng), and 灭灯 sounds more formal or literary.
灭 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
灭 miè · to extinguish or put out · 5 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 灭.
| 消灭 | xiāomiè | to put an end to; to annihilate |
| 毁灭 | huǐmiè | to perish; to ruin |
| 灭绝 | mièjué | to become extinct; to die out; to lose (sth abstract) completely |
| 灭亡 | mièwáng | to be destroyed; to become extinct; to perish; to die out; to destroy; to exterminate |
| 歼灭 | jiānmiè | to wipe out; to crush |
| 破灭 | pòmiè | to be shattered; to be annihilated (of hope, illusions etc) |
| 熄灭 | xīmiè | to stop burning; to go out (of fire) |
| 灭火 | mièhuǒ | to extinguish a fire; firefighting |
| 毁灭性 | huǐmièxìng | destructive; devastating |
| 灭口 | mièkǒu | to kill sb to prevent them from divulging a secret; to silence sb |
| 扑灭 | pūmiè | to eradicate; to extinguish |
| 灭掉 | mièdiào | to eliminate |
Questions about 灭
What does 灭 mean?
灭 (miè) means "to extinguish or put out; to go out (of a fire etc)" and is used as a verb.
How do you write 灭?
灭 is made of 1 character: 灭 (5 strokes). That is 5 strokes in total.
Is 灭 an HSK word?
Yes. 灭 is on the HSK 6 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 灭 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 灭 is written 滅.
Can 灭 be used both for 'the fire went out' and 'put out the fire'?
Yes. 灭 works intransitively, as in 灯灭了 (dēng miè le, the light went out), and transitively, as in 灭火 (mièhuǒ, to put out a fire). The meaning depends on whether there is an object.
What is the difference between 灭绝 and 灭亡?
灭绝 (mièjué) is mostly used for species dying out completely, like 恐龙灭绝了 (the dinosaurs went extinct). 灭亡 (mièwáng) is usually used for nations, dynasties, or organizations being destroyed.