埋 (mái) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

埋

mái[mai2]Tone 2

to bury

HSK 6

Multiple Readings (多音字):

Guru Deep Dive

English · to bury

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:10

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (土) should be compact and narrower, leaving generous space for the right component (里).

1. Meaning

to bury

to cover upto concealto blame (usually written as 埋怨 mái yuàn)

VerbNeutral#action#location#emotions

Sample Usage

他把信埋在土里。
tā bǎ xìn mái zài tǔ lǐ.
He buried the letter in the soil.
不要埋怨别人。
bú yào mái yuàn biérén.
Don't complain about others.

2. Sound

/[maɪ̯³⁵]/Tone: 35

埋

máimai2

´(35)

=mái

Initial Consonant

Type: Bilabial Nasal

Sounds like: m sound as in 'mother'

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Nasal resonance through nostrils.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Lips pressed together gently then released while voicing through the nose.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: -ai rhymes with 'eye' or 'high'

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'eye'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T2 (35)

3 → 5 (35)

2nd Tone (Mid-Rising)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 2 rises like a questioning English sentence (e.g., 'What?').

Sandhi: When followed by another Tone 3 syllable, it changes to a rising Tone 2.

👂

Listening trap: Often confused with Tone 4 (mài) by beginners who fail to raise the pitch high enough.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A rising hand gesture moving upward like climbing stairs, matching the upward pitch of Tone 2.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 10 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (土) should be compact and narrower, leaving generous space for the right component (里).

4. Components

Radical 土 · Earth radical (soil, ground, earth)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 土 (Indicates dirt or ground where things are buried)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 里 (original sound: mái / lǐ sound clue)

The earth (土) meets the inside/village area (里): you put something down into the earth to bury it.

土 earth or soil
里 inside or neighborhood

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

16· Phonetic Root: 里 (lǐ)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from 土 (earth) representing the action medium and 里 providing the phonetic sound and sense of being inside or enclosed.

Semantic Evolution: Originally referred specifically to burying objects or corpses in the earth, later expanded to metaphorically covering things up or harboring feelings.

Ancient burials often involved placing valuables or bodies deep within the local soil (土).

6. Sinosphere

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

You take a piece of EARTH (土) and put your valuables INSIDE (里) it to BURY (埋) them safely.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

理

lǐreason, logicUses the King/Jade radical (王/玉) on the left instead of earth (土).

鲤

lǐcarpUses the fish radical (鱼) on the left.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

买(mǎi)

买 (to buy) lacks the earth radical (土) on the left; it features a net shape on top.

卖(mài)

卖 (to sell) adds a top crown (十) over the net component, contrasting with 埋's earth base.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

小狗把骨头[___]在院子里。

Clue: mái

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing 埋 (mái - to bury) with 买 (mǎi - to buy) or 卖 (mài - to sell) due to similar phonetic structures.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does 埋 mean and how is it pronounced with tones?

Production: How do you write the character for 'to bury' using the earth radical?

埋máito bury

Speed:

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