妹 — how to write the kanji for “younger sister”
妹 (“younger sister”) is a JLPT N4 kanji taught in second grade in Japan. Its parts sit side by side: 女 (“woman”, its radical), strokes 1–3; 未 (“un-”), strokes 4–8, each finished before the next. On its own it is the word imouto, “younger sister”. Its common words take the reading mai: 姉妹 (“sisters”), 弟妹 (“younger brother and sister”) and 義妹 (“sister-in-law…”). Chinese reads it mèi, “younger sister”, at HSK 1.
- Strokes
- 8
- JLPT
- N4
- Radical
- 女 (“woman”)
- On
- マイ
- Kun
- いもうと
Stroke by stroke
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- Left-falling then dot ㇛top leftdownwards → down and right
- Left-falling stroke ㇒topdownwards → down and left
- Rising stroke ㇀leftrightwards
- Horizontal ㇐toprightwards
- Horizontal ㇐centerrightwards
- Vertical ㇑topdownwards
- Left-falling stroke ㇒centerdown and left
- Right-falling stroke ㇏centerdown and right
Japanese and Chinese
Japanese and Chinese draw all 8 strokes in the same order and direction, by our stroke-by-stroke comparison.
Trace it
Follow the numbers. Tracing help
Readings
- On (Chinese-derived)
- マイ mai
- Kun (native)
- いもうと imouto (rare)
- Meanings
- younger sister
- Read mai
- 姉妹 弟妹 義妹
- School year
- second grade
- Newspaper rank
- 1446th of 2,500 (KANJIDIC2)
- Korean hanja
- 매 mae
- Common words
- 4 in JMdict
Words with 妹
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 姉妹 | しまい shimai | sisters |
| 弟妹 | ていまい teimai | younger brother and sister |
| 義妹 | ぎまい gimai | sister-in-law… |
| 従姉妹 | いとこ itoko | cousin (female) |
Most common first (JMdict).
Practice sheet
Print at 100%. Several kanji: worksheet maker.
Keep going
Same parts:
JLPT N4, in list order: