苗 (miáo) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

苗

miáo[miao2]Tone 2

sprout, seedling, or Miao ethnic group

HSK 7

Guru Deep Dive

English · sprout, seedling, or Miao ethnic group

Cached lesson

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Topology:Top-bottom

Strokes:8

Writing Balance Rule: The top grass radical (艹) should sit lightly and evenly across the top, while the bottom component (田) forms a stable, balanced rectangular base.

1. Meaning

sprout or seedling growing from the ground

offspring or descendantMiao ethnic minority group in Chinasurname Miao

NounNeutral#plants#agriculture#ethnicity#family

Sample Usage

秧苗
yāngmiáo
rice seedling
苗条
miáotiáo
slender, slim (of a person's figure)

2. Sound

/[mi̯aʊ̯³⁵]/Tone: 35

苗

miáomiao2

´(35)

=miáo

Build the syllable

Step-by-step blending

miao

Tone mark placement: Tone mark sits on "a" per main-vowel priority (a > e > o; in -iu/-ui the mark takes the second vowel).

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 lightly to produce the voiced nasal consonant, then opened immediately for the vowel.

Final Rhyme

iao

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: -iao rhymes with 'ow' in 'meow'

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

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 starts at a mid pitch and rises sharply to the top, exactly like asking a surprised question in English such as 'What?'

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the rising Tone 2 (miáo) with Tone 3 (miǎo) or Tone 4 (miào), which completely changes the meaning.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Hand moves upward on an angle from low to high, like climbing a hill, matching the rising pitch of Tone 2.

3. Writing

Topology: Top-bottom · Strokes: 8 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The top grass radical (艹) should sit lightly and evenly across the top, while the bottom component (田) forms a stable, balanced rectangular base.

4. Components

Radical 艹 · Grass radical (Plants, grass, vegetation)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 艹 (Indicates plant life or vegetation)

A tiny plant sprout (艹) pushing its way up through a cultivated field (田).

艹 Grass or plant signifier at the top
田 A cultivated field at the bottom

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

10· Phonetic Root: 苗 (miáo)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally depicted plants growing out of a cultivated plot of land, combining the idea of vegetation (艹) and a field (田).

Semantic Evolution: From the literal meaning of a young plant sprout, it extended to describe anything young and growing, descendants, slender figures, and later as a phonetic loan for the Miao ethnic group.

The character bridges ancient agricultural observations with modern demographic and linguistic terms.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: ビョウ (byou) / Kun: なえ (nae)

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Picture a tiny green plant SPROUT (miáo) pushing its way up right out of the middle of a square farm FIELD (田) beneath the open sky.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

猫

māocat+ 犭 (dog)

描

miáoto trace, depict, copy+ 扌 (hand)

瞄

miáoto take aim+ 目 (eye)

喵

miāo(onom.) meow; cat's mewing+ 口 (mouth)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

描(miáo)

描 has the hand radical (扌) for tracing with a pen, whereas 苗 only has the grass radical (艹) for a sprout.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

春天天气暖和，地里的麦[___]长得很快。

Clue: miáo

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the base character 苗 with its derivative characters like 描 (trace) or 瞄 (aim) which share the exact same pronunciation but use different radicals.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see the character 苗, what are its primary meanings related to plants and ethnicity?

Production: How do you write the character for 'sprout' or 'seedling' using the grass radical and field radical?

苗miáosprout, seedling, or Miao ethnic group

Speed:

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