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妹

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younger sister

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HSK 3.0
Level 1
Old HSK
Level 2
Strokes
8
Radical
女 +5
Structure
Left–right 左右
Traditional
妹
Common rank
#1,295
Unicode
U+59B9

Formation & memory

Break the character into parts you already know.

How 妹 is formed

Phono-semantic compound (形声字)

女 meaning “woman” + 未 sound ( wèi )

Components 女 未

How to remember it

younger sister · Heisig RSH #219

女 woman + 未 not yet

Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.

Words with 妹

The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.

WordPinyinMeaning
妹妹 mèi mei younger sister; young woman; CL:個|个[ge4]
打工妹 dǎ gōng mèi young female worker
表妹夫 biǎo mèi fu husband of younger female cousin via female line
伊妹儿 yī mèi r (loanword) email
妹子 mèi zi (dialect) younger sister; girl
学妹 xué mèi junior or younger female schoolmate
小妹 xiǎo mèi little sister; girl; (Tw) young female employee working in a low-level role dealing with t…
大陆妹 dà lù mèi (in Taiwan, Hong Kong or Macao) girl from the mainland; (Tw) Fushan lettuce 福山萵苣|福山莴苣[Fu2 …
老妹 lǎo mèi (dialect) younger sister; familiar form of address for a younger woman
阿妹 ā mèi younger sister
堂妹夫 táng mèi fu husband of younger female cousin via male line
台妹 Tái mèi local girl (referring to a Taiwanese benshengren 本省人[ben3 sheng3 ren2])
龙妹 lóng mèi ugly girl (slang) (Tw)
正妹 zhèng mèi (Tw) beautiful woman; sexy woman
妹夫 mèi fu younger sister's husband
太妹 tài mèi girl delinquent; tomboy; schoolgirl tough
毛妹 máo mèi (slang) young Russian woman
表妹 biǎo mèi younger female cousin through a female relative
师妹 shī mèi junior female student or apprentice; daughter (younger than oneself) of one's teacher
恐龙妹 kǒng lóng mèi ugly girl (slang)

Sound family

Characters sharing the sound component 未 — compare how they read.

CharacterPinyinMeaning
未 sound part wèi not yet; 8th terrestrial branch
味 wèi taste; smell, odor; delicacy
昧 mèi dark, hidden, obscure