美

měi

beautiful, pretty; pleasing

Meaning

  • Sensory: delicious or savory.
  • Aesthetic: beautiful, pretty, or handsome.
  • Qualitative/Functional: good, fine, or excellent; well-suited or exemplary in function.
  • Moral/Ethical: refinement, grace, or a beneficial quality (overlaps with 善).

Grammar and usage

  • Stative Verb/Adjective: functions as "to be beautiful/good."
  • Noun: refers to "the beauty" or "the best part" of something.
  • Modifier: used to describe a positive reputation or quality (e.g., 美名).

Distinctions

  • 美 vs. 麗: While 美 is the broadest term for excellence and refinement, 麗 emphasizes brilliance, vividness, ornamentation, or structural elegance ("showy").
  • 美 vs. 妍: 妍 leans toward delicacy, softness, or specific feminine/floral beauty.
  • 美 vs. 佳: 佳 is closer to "superior" or "high quality," often serving as a value judgment on the grade of the object rather than the pleasure of the observer.

History and forms

  • Readings: Tang-period reading *myǐ; Fanqie 無鄙.
  • Variants: Semantic variant U+7F99.

Graphical notes

  • Etymologically linked to a well-fed sacrificial sheep.

Translator notes

  • In early texts, this glyph frequently refers to taste rather than sight. If the context involves food, offerings, or smell, prioritize "delicious" or "tasty."

Decontextualized translator aid. This page describes plausible lexical range; it does not choose what the glyph means in a particular passage.