HSK Guide

mèiyounger sister

mèi (fourth tone, falling)

younger sister

8 画部首 词频 #619

拼音

  • mèi (fourth tone, falling)

younger sister

字形拆解

Ideographic description

⿰女未The sequence reads left to right and describes how the parts are arranged.

  • meaning partThe woman radical.
  • sound partno entry yet未 wèi for the sound. It draws a tree whose topmost branches are still short — hence its own meaning, "not yet".

Mnemonic

A woman 女 with 未 wèi beside her. 未 is there for the sound, but its own picture — a tree whose upper branches have not yet filled out, "not yet" — is a fair enough hook for the younger sister, provided you remember that this is a memory aid and not the etymology. Watch the right-hand element: 未 has a short top bar, 末 mò "the end" has a long one.

A memory aid written by HSK Guide editors. It is not an etymology and does not describe the historical origin of the character.