How to write 妹 (mèi, “younger sister”)

妹 (mèi), an HSK 1 character, means “younger sister”. It pairs a meaning part, 女 (“female”), with a sound part, 未 (“not yet”). It is part of the HSK word 妹妹 (“younger sister”), and of 太妹 (“girl delinquent”) and 妹子 (“younger sister”). Japanese reads it mai, “younger sister”, as a JLPT N4 kanji.

Pinyin: mèi
Strokes: 8
HSK: 1
Radical: 女 (“female”)

Stroke by stroke

As a left-right character it splits into 女 (“female”, the radical), strokes 1–3; 未 (“not yet”), strokes 4–8, written the left part first.

Left-falling then dot ㇛top leftdownwards → down and right
Left-falling stroke ㇒leftdown and left
Rising stroke ㇀leftrightwards
Horizontal ㇐toprightwards
Horizontal ㇐centerrightwards
Vertical ㇑topdownwards
Left-falling stroke ㇒centerdown and left
Right-falling stroke ㇏centerdown and right → rightwards

Names of the strokes

Japanese and Chinese

Japanese and Chinese draw all 8 strokes in the same order and direction, by our stroke-by-stroke comparison.

Japanese · KanjiVG · 8 strokes

Chinese · Make Me a Hanzi · 8 strokes

Where 妹 comes from

woman

Meaning part: 女 (“female”)
Sound part: 未 (“not yet”)

Trace it

Follow the numbers. Tracing help

Pinyin and meaning

Pinyin	Meanings	Traditional	In words
mèi fourth tone	younger sister	—	妹妹姐妹太妹妹子

HSK 2025 syllabus: level 1
2021 standard: level 1
HSK 2.0: in a level 2 word
Words with it: 44 in CC-CEDICT

Words with 妹

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
妹妹	mèimei	younger sister; young woman HSK 1
姐妹	jiěmèi	sisters; siblings HSK 3
太妹	tàimèi	girl delinquent; tomboy
妹子	mèizi	younger sister; girl
学妹學妹	xuémèi	junior or younger female schoolmate
小妹	xiǎomèi	little sister; girl
师妹師妹	shīmèi	junior female student or apprentice; daughter (younger than oneself)…
弟妹	dìmèi	younger sibling; younger brother's wife
正妹	zhèngmèi	beautiful woman
小妹妹	xiǎomèimei	little sister; little girl

HSK words first (CC-CEDICT).

Practice sheet

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Keep going

HSK 1, in list order: