妹mèi

妹

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Simplified · Today

简体

Simplified Chinese

Modern simplified form (簡體). 妹 (mèi, "younger sister") remains unchanged from its traditional counterpart, combining the 女 (woman) radical with 末, the character for "tip" or "end" — suggesting the youngest child in a family. This semantic-phonetic compound appears in words like 姐妹 (jiěmèi, "sisters") and 妹夫 (mèifū, "younger sister's husband"), always carrying its original sense of female youth within the family line.

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Shuowen

妹 consists of the female radical 女 paired with the phonetic 未; the oracle bone form shows a woman with a phonetic element, denoting a younger sister or female relative; the structure uses 女 to mark gender and 未 to give the pronunciation, creating a character that specifically refers to a younger female sibling.

Pinyin

mèi· HSK 1

妹mèi

Character evolution

Shuowen

Pinyin