HSK 2 · Pronouns

妹妹 mèimei “younger sister” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 妹妹 means

  1. younger sister
  2. young woman

Measure word 个 gè · 一个妹妹 yí ge mèimei

How to say 妹妹

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale妹mèi4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own妹meineutral tone, light and short

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

妹妹 in a sentence

  1. 我喜欢狗，我妹妹喜欢猫。

    Wǒ xǐhuan gǒu, wǒ mèimei xǐhuan māo.

    I like dogs, and my younger sister likes cats.

    Sentence #787613 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 你有妹妹吗？

    Nǐ yǒu mèimei ma?

    Do you have a younger sister?

    Sentence #3378193 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 我妹妹唱歌很好听。

    Wǒ mèimei chànggē hěn hǎotīng.

    My younger sister sings really well.

    Sentence #346120 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 妹妹 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 妹 (mèi) with each of its parts in a different colour
妹mèiyounger sister
  • 女woman · nǚMeaning part
  • 未part of the characterSound part

Memory aidA woman 女, with 未 (wèi) giving the sound: younger sister. Older sister 姐 has 女 too.

The character 妹 (mèi) with each of its parts in a different colour
妹mèiyounger sisterlight in 妹妹
  • 女woman · nǚMeaning part
  • 未part of the characterSound part

Memory aidA woman 女, with 未 (wèi) giving the sound: younger sister. Older sister 姐 has 女 too.

How to write 妹妹

妹 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 妹妹

Words with 妹

姐妹jiěmèi · sisters

More words: People, Body & Health

妻子qīzi · wife哥哥gēge · older brother姐姐jiějie · older sister弟弟dìdi · younger brother孩子háizi · child姓xìng · surname丈夫zhàngfu · husband生病shēngbìng · to get sick

FAQs

妹妹 (mèimei) means “younger sister” or “young woman”. It is an HSK 2 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it mèimei: mèi with a 4th tone, then mei with a neutral tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 妹妹 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Use 个 (gè). For example, one younger sister is 一个妹妹 (yí ge mèimei).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type meimei with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 妹妹 from the suggestions. Typing meimei into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
妹妹 is an HSK 2 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.