HSK 6 · Media

谜语 míyǔ “riddle” in Chinese

Traditional 謎語

What 谜语 means

  1. riddle
  2. conundrum

Measure word 条 tiáo · 一条谜语 yì tiáo míyǔ

How to say 谜语

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale谜mí2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale语yǔ3rd tone, dipping

谜语 in a sentence

  1. 我给你出个谜语，你猜猜看。

    Wǒ gěi nǐ chū ge míyǔ, nǐ cāicai kàn.

    Let me give you a riddle. See if you can guess it.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 元宵节的时候，人们喜欢猜谜语。

    Yuánxiāojié de shíhou, rénmen xǐhuan cāi míyǔ.

    At the Lantern Festival, people like guessing riddles.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 谜语 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 谜 (mí) with each of its parts in a different colour
谜míriddle
  • 讠speech form of 言 · yán
  • 迷to bewitch · mí
The character 语 (yǔ) with each of its parts in a different colour
语yǔdialect
  • 讠speech form of 言 · yánMeaning part
  • 吾I · wúSound part

讠 hints at the meaning (speech); 吾 (wú) hints at the sound. Compare it with yǔ.

Memory aidWords 讠 that I 吾 say: language. 吾 (wú) also gives the sound.

How to write 谜语

谜 11 strokes · 语 9 strokes

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

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

Words related to 谜语

Words with 语

汉语Hànyǔ · Mandarin (Han language)外语wàiyǔ · foreign language词语cíyǔ · words and expressions语法yǔfǎ · grammar语言yǔyán · language成语chéngyǔ · idiom语气yǔqì · tone母语mǔyǔ · mother tongue

More words: Media & Arts

灵感línggǎn · inspiration论坛lùntán · forum漫画mànhuà · comic媒介méijiè · medium魔术móshù · magic内幕nèimù · inside story偶像ǒuxiàng · idol排练páiliàn · to rehearse

FAQs

谜语 (míyǔ) means “riddle” or “conundrum”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it míyǔ: mí with a 2nd tone, then yǔ with a 3rd 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, 谜语 is written 謎語. The pronunciation is the same.
Use 条 (tiáo). For example, one riddle is 一条谜语 (yì tiáo míyǔ).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type miyu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 谜语 from the suggestions. Typing miyu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
谜语 is an HSK 6 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 written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.