绵 (mián): soft; downy; silky

Meanings

1 soft; downy; silky
2 continuous; unbroken
3 weak; mild-mannered
4 (noun) silk floss; cotton wadding

Characters

绵

mián

silk floss; soft; continuous

Examples

这块面包又软又绵。

Zhèkuài miànbāo yòu ruǎn yòu mián.

This piece of bread is soft and fluffy.

山脉绵延数百公里。

Shānmài miányán shùbǎi gōnglǐ.

The mountain range stretches unbroken for hundreds of kilometers.

他性格绵软，从不与人争。

Tā xìnggé mián ruǎn, cóngbù yǔ rén zhēng.

He is mild-mannered and never fights with anyone.

Tips

usage

Mostly bound — almost always seen in compounds: 绵延 (stretch on and on), 绵密 (meticulous), 绵软 (soft and mild), 绵羊 (sheep), 海绵 (sponge), 棉绵 (cotton wadding). The 纟 (silk) radical hints at the original meaning of 'silk floss'.

memory

Picture pulled silk floss: 'soft', 'continuous', and 'weak/yielding' all flow from that one image.

Components

radical

纟 sī

silk (radical form of 糸)

Left silk radical — three-stroke side-form of 糸, a tied bundle of silk threads. As the indexing radical it places 绵 in the textile family with 纺 to spin, 织 to weave, 线 thread, 红 red. Silk floss and cotton wadding are both soft fibrous fillings — literal semantic work.

semantic

帛 bó

silk cloth

Right 帛 — 白 over 巾, picturing a piece of plain white woven cloth. Pairs with the silk radical: threads spun and woven into soft continuous fabric — the source of 绵's 'soft, downy, unbroken' senses. The continuity image feeds 绵延 stretching unbroken and 绵绵 endless.