Chinese character for beauty: 美 (měi)
The Chinese character for beauty is 美 (měi). It means beautiful or beauty and appears in 美丽 (měilì, beautiful) and 美好 (měihǎo, wonderful). It is also used in the Chinese name for the USA, 美国.
How 美 is built
美 has 羊 (yáng, sheep) on top and 大 (dà, big) below. The classic explanation is that a big, fine sheep was something beautiful and good. Another reading sees a person 大 wearing an ornamental headdress. Either way, the character shows something fine and pleasing. It is one of the most popular characters for names and tattoos and is the same in simplified and traditional Chinese.
美 měi · beautiful
- 羊yáng — sheep
- 丷ha — kwukyel
- 丶 — dot
- 丷ha — kwukyel
- 大dà — big
- 一 — horizontal stroke
- 人rén — person
Origin hint: A person 大 wearing an elegant crown 羊 (from the Make Me a Hanzi dataset; treat as a memory aid where history is uncertain)
How 美 is used
Other ways to say beauty
- 美丽 měilì — beautiful, the usual adjective
Before you use it as a tattoo or design: 美 is identical in both scripts; keep the top part as 羊 without the long tail stroke, which would change the shape.
Questions
What is the Chinese character for beauty?
美 (měi) means “beautiful”.
How do you pronounce 美?
美 is pronounced měi.