Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced miao
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced miao, including 描 miáo, 妙 miào, 庙 miào, 苗 miáo, 秒 miǎo. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…
How to Pronounce This Syllable
Build miao by sliding from m straight into iao; the tone rides over the joined sound, so treat it as one unit.
Initial m
Start the syllable on the initial m, then run straight into the final iao — keep them joined instead of sounding out separate English letters.
Final iao
Settle the final iao into a steady mouth shape first, then lay the tone on top.
Study Tip
Start with the most common characters (描 miáo, 妙 miào, 庙 miào, 苗 miáo, 秒 miǎo) and lock in their tones. 5 common characters share the sound miao, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
miao turns up here with 3 different tones; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.
2nd tone
Taking the 2nd tone here: 描, 苗 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
3rd tone
Taking the 3rd tone here: 秒 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
4th tone
Taking the 4th tone here: 妙, 庙 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing miao inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
5 common characters in this group.