美 (měi) is a Chinese character meaning “beautiful”. It is written from 丷 (two spreading strokes) and 王 (king) and 大 (big), and takes 9 strokes.
Build the character for “beautiful”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
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Structure
丷 + 王 + 大
Top–middle–bottom structure
Structure from: Unicode U+7F8E and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (strokes 1-2 丷, strokes 3-6 王 shape, strokes 7-9 大)
Memory aid
Two plumes (丷) fanning out above a king (王), worn by someone standing big and wide (大). Fully dressed up for the ceremony — that is beautiful.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
9 strokes
In real words
- 美丽měi lìbeautiful美 = měi
- 美国měi guóthe United States; America美 = měi
- 美其名曰měi qí míng yuēto give it the fine-sounding name of; to call it, euphemistically美 = měi
Go deeper
All readings
beautiful
beautiful; pretty; good; to beautify; short for America (美国)
好看；美好。也用作「美国」的简称。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 美丽měi lìbeautiful美 = měi
- 美国měi guóthe United States; America美 = měi
- 美其名曰měi qí míng yuēto give it the fine-sounding name of; to call it, euphemistically美 = měi
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 美 mean?
美 (měi) means beautiful; pretty; good; to beautify; short for America (美国).
How do you pronounce 美?
It is pronounced měi.
What parts is 美 made of?
丷 (two spreading strokes) and 王 (king) and 大 (big). The recorded source is: Unicode U+7F8E and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (strokes 1-2 丷, strokes 3-6 王 shape, strokes 7-9 大). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 美 have?
9. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 美?
羊. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 美?
Common ones are 美丽 and 美国. The reading of 美 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.