Meaning
fade; side; surface; aspect; top; face
Chinese: 脸、表面或方面。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “mian” becomes a different word in each tone. 面 is the 4th 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
- 后面hòu mianthe back; the rear; the last bit; behind
- 前面qián miànahead; in front; preceding; above
- 见面jiàn miànto meet; to see each other
- 面包miàn bāobread
- 面条儿miàn tiáo rcolloquial (-r) form of 面条
Example Sentence
桌面上放着一台电脑。Zhuō miàn shàng fàng zhe yì tái diàn nǎo.There is a computer on the desk.
桌面Zhuō miàndesktop上shàngon放fàngto put着zhe(ongoing action)一yìone台táiTaiwan (abbr.)电脑diàn nǎocomputer。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
A pictograph of a face with an eye framed inside the outline of the head. It means ‘face; surface; side; aspect’ (and, via 麵, ‘flour, noodles’).
A way to remember it
An eye set in the outline of a face — the face, a surface.