HSK 5 · Adjectives

苗条 miáotiao “(of a woman) slim” in Chinese

Traditional 苗條

What 苗条 means

  1. (of a woman) slim
  2. slender
  3. graceful

How to say 苗条

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale苗miáo2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own条tiaoneutral tone, light and short

Grey pinyin is a neutral tone: say it short and light. More on the neutral tone

苗条 in a sentence

  1. 说苗条比说瘦更有礼貌。

    Shuō miáotiao bǐ shuō shòu gèng yǒu lǐmào.

    It’s more polite to say “slim” than “skinny”.

    Sentence #812360 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我正在变苗条！

    Wǒ zhèngzài biàn miáotiao!

    I’m getting slim!

    Sentence #13943737 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 苗条 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 苗 (miáo) with each of its parts in a different colour
苗miáoyoung plant; seedling
  • 艹grass form of 艸 · cǎo
  • 田field · tián
The character 条 (tiáo) with each of its parts in a different colour
条tiáostriplight in 苗条
  • 夂go · zhǐ
  • 木tree · mù

Memory aidTree 木 gives the meaning: a twig, so the measure word for long, thin things.

How to write 苗条

苗 8 strokes · 条 7 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

苗条 (miáotiao) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 苗条 (miáotiao). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 苗条

Words with 苗

拔苗助长bámiáozhùzhǎng · to spoil things through haste (lit. pull shoots to help growth)

Words with 条

面条儿miàntiáor · noodles面条miàntiáo · noodles条tiáo · strip条件tiáojiàn · condition条款tiáokuǎn · clause条约tiáoyuē · treaty便条biàntiáo · informal note条理tiáolǐ · order有条不紊yǒutiáobùwěn · orderly

More words: Adjectives

了不起liǎobuqǐ · amazing良好liánghǎo · good灵活línghuó · flexible密切mìqiè · close明显míngxiǎn · clear模糊móhu · vague陌生mòshēng · strange嫩nèn · young and tender

FAQs

苗条 (miáotiao) means “(of a woman) slim” or “slender”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it miáotiao: miáo with a 2nd tone, then tiao with a neutral tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 苗条 is written 苗條. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type miaotiao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 苗条 from the suggestions. Typing miaotiao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
苗条 is an HSK 5 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.