Meaning
America; beautiful
Chinese: 美丽、好。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “mei” becomes a different word in each tone. 美 is the 3rd tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.
Stroke Order
Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.
Common Words
- 美元měi yuánAmerican dollar; US dollar
- 美丽měi lìbeautiful
- 完美wán měiperfect
- 美好měi hǎobeautiful; fine
- 美食měi shículinary delicacy; fine food; gourmet food
Example Sentence
她有一双美丽的眼睛。Tā yǒu yì shuāng měi lì de yǎn jing.She has a pair of beautiful eyes.
她Tāshe有yǒuto have一yìone双shuāngtwo美丽měi lìbeautiful的deof眼睛yǎn jingeye。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
羊 (sheep) over 大 (big): a big, fine sheep was a good thing — ‘beautiful, pretty; fine, good’; also short for 美国 (America/USA).
A way to remember it
A big (大) fine sheep (羊) — beautiful, good.
Easy to confuse with
- 差‘Differ / poor’: also a 羊-like top, but built differently below.