Meaning of 美
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- beautiful
- very satisfactory; good
- to beautify
- to be pleased with oneself
- (bound form) the Americas (abbr. for 美洲[Mei3 zhou1])
- (bound form) USA (abbr. for 美國|美国[Mei3 guo2])
How to use 美
美 (měi) means beautiful or good, and it appears in many common words like 美丽 (měilì), 美好 (měihǎo) and 美食 (měishí). It is also short for the USA, as in 美国 (Měiguó) and 美元 (měiyuán). Example: 这里的风景很美。(Zhèlǐ de fēngjǐng hěn měi.) The scenery here is very beautiful.
The top of 美 (měi) looks like 羊 (yáng, sheep) and the bottom looks like 大 (dà, big). Picture a big, fine sheep and think of something good and beautiful.
Common mistake: Learners often write the bottom part as 天 or forget that the sheep top has no tail stroke going down through it, since the vertical line stops before 大. Also keep the third tone in 美 (měi) and do not confuse it with 每 (měi, every), which sounds the same but looks different.
美 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.
美 měi · beautiful · 9 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
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- 9
Related words
Words that share a character with 美.
| 完美 | wánměi | perfect |
| 美丽 | měilì | beautiful |
| 美好 | měihǎo | beautiful; fine |
| 美元 | měiyuán | American dollar; US dollar |
| 美食 | měishí | culinary delicacy; fine food |
| 美术 | měishù | art; fine arts |
| 美女 | měinǚ | beautiful woman |
| 美金 | měijīn | American dollar; US dollar |
| 优美 | yōuměi | graceful; fine |
| 美容 | měiróng | to improve one's appearance (using cosmetics or cosmetic surgery); to make oneself more at |
| 精美 | jīngměi | exquisite; elegant; fine |
| 美妙 | měimiào | beautiful; wonderful |
Questions about 美
What does 美 mean?
美 (měi) means "beautiful; very satisfactory; good" and is used as a adjective.
How do you write 美?
美 is made of 1 character: 美 (9 strokes). That is 9 strokes in total.
Is 美 an HSK word?
Yes. 美 is on the HSK 3 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
Why is America called 美国 (Měiguó) in Chinese?
美 was chosen to represent the sound of the "me" in America, from the older name 亚美利加 (Yàměilìjiā). So 美国 means the America country, and the nice meaning of 美 is a bonus.
What is the difference between 美 (měi) and 漂亮 (piàoliang)?
Both can mean beautiful, but 漂亮 is more casual and common in speech for people and things. 美 on its own sounds a bit more literary and is often used for scenery, art, or abstract beauty, or inside compounds like 美丽 (měilì).