Dictionary › 枚

枚

méi

Old HSK 6 HSK 3.0 character level 7-9 Character

枚 (méi) means "surname Mei; classifier for coins, rings, badges, pearls, sporting medals, rockets, satellites etc; tree trunk". It is an HSK 3.0 level 7-9 word, and was HSK 6 in the old six-level list.

What 枚 means

1. classifier for small objects: coins, badges, rings, carved seals, chess pieces, eggs, fingerprints etc (more formal than {个|gè})
2. classifier for bombs, missiles, satellites etc
3. (on product packaging) classifier for flat items (from Japanese 枚 "mai")
4. oldstick used as a gag to prevent soldiers from talking while sneaking up on the enemy

Other readings

枚 is 多音字 — it is read more than one way, and the reading changes the meaning.

• Méisurname Mei

Example sentences

• 我有几枚银币。
  Wǒ yǒu jǐ méi yínbì.
  I have several silver coins.
• 我们有六枚鸡蛋。
  We have a half-dozen eggs.
• 他拿出了几枚硬币。
  He took out some coins.
• 我需要先放一枚硬币吗？
  Wǒ xūyào xiān fàng yī méi yìngbì ma?
  Do I need to put a coin in first?
• 克里斯取得了七枚金币！
  Kè lǐ sī qǔdé le qī méi jīnbì!
  Chris gets 7 gold coins!
• 我的背包里有几枚邮票。
  I have some stamps in my bag.

Words starting with 枚

• 枚乘Méi ChéngMei Cheng (-c. 140 BC), Han dynasty poet
• 枚卜méi bǔto choose officials by divination (archaic); to practice divination without a definite…
• 枚举méi jǔto enumerate

Words containing 枚

• 不胜枚举bù shèng méi jǔtoo numerous to mention individually or one by one
• 猜枚cāi méidrinking game where one has to guess the number of small objects in the other player's…
• 不可枚举bù kě méi jǔinnumerable (idiom)
• 马工枚速Mǎ gōng Méi sùSima Xiangru is meticulous and Mei Gao is fast (idiom); to each his good points
• 钳马衔枚qián mǎ xián méiwith horses and soldiers gagged (idiom); (of a marching army) in utter silence
• 袁枚Yuán MéiYuan Mei (1716–1797), Qing poet, essayist and gastronome, one of the Three Great Masters…

Characters that look like 枚

Easy to confuse on sight. Compare them side by side once and the pair stops costing you.

• 歧qídivergent; side road
• 彼bǐthat; those; (one) another
• 挂guàto hang; to suspend (from a hook etc); to hang up (the phone); (of a line) to be dead
• 枝zhībranch; classifier for sticks, rods, pencils etc
• 杖zhànga staff; a rod; cane
• 衩chǎopen seam of a garment; shorts; panties

Sounds the same

Read méi, tone for tone, but written differently.

• 没(negative prefix for verbs) have not; not
• 媒medium; intermediary; matchmaker
• 煤coal
• 眉eyebrow; upper margin
• 霉mold; mildew; to become moldy
• 梅plum; plum flower; Japanese apricot (Prunus mume)
• 玫(fine jade); used in 玫瑰
• 莓(bound form) berry (e.g. strawberry, blackberry, loganberry)
• 酶enzyme; ferment
• 湄(literary) shore; coast; bank
• 楣lintel; crossbeam
• 糜millet

Where 枚 is taught

In the GraphChinese course it is part of HSK 6 Vocabulary · máng–méi (HSK 6), each one a topic in the dependency graph of HSK 1–6 that opens only once its prerequisites are solid.

Go deeper

• Every HSK 6 word, with the rest of its level.
• How characters are built from components.
• How to learn Chinese characters.
• The four tones and the neutral tone, to read méi correctly.
• Look up another word in the free dictionary.