苗 (miáo) is a Chinese character meaning “sprout”. It is written from 艹 (grass / plant radical) and 田 (field; farmland), one above the other, and takes 8 strokes.
Build the character for “sprout; seedling”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
艹 + 田
Top–bottom structure
Structure from: studyhanzi 现代字形拆分（对照 hanzi-writer-data 8 笔核验：艹 3 笔 + 田 5 笔）
Memory aid
Grass (艹) growing on top of a field (田): the green shoots just coming up out of the farmland — a seedling.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
8 strokes
In real words
- 禾苗hé miáograin seedlings; young shoots of a cereal crop苗 = miáo
- 幼苗yòu miáoseedling; young plant苗 = miáo
- 疫苗yì miáovaccine苗 = miáo
- 秧苗yāng miáorice seedlings; young seedlings of a crop苗 = miáo
- 苗圃miáo pǔ(plant) nursery; seedling bed苗 = miáo
Go deeper
All readings
sprout; seedling
sprout; seedling; young plant; something slender like a shoot (e.g. a flame)
刚长出来的植物幼株；也指像幼株一样细小向上的东西，如火苗。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 禾苗hé miáograin seedlings; young shoots of a cereal crop苗 = miáo
- 幼苗yòu miáoseedling; young plant苗 = miáo
- 疫苗yì miáovaccine苗 = miáo
- 秧苗yāng miáorice seedlings; young seedlings of a crop苗 = miáo
- 苗圃miáo pǔ(plant) nursery; seedling bed苗 = miáo
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 苗 mean?
苗 (miáo) means sprout; seedling; young plant; something slender like a shoot (e.g. a flame).
How do you pronounce 苗?
It is pronounced miáo.
What parts is 苗 made of?
艹 (grass / plant radical) and 田 (field; farmland), one above the other. The recorded source is: studyhanzi 现代字形拆分（对照 hanzi-writer-data 8 笔核验：艹 3 笔 + 田 5 笔）. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 苗 have?
8. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 苗?
艸. 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 苗?
Common ones are 禾苗 and 幼苗. The reading of 苗 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.