mǎn
noun #26,057

Measure Word

zhī

Meanings

  1. 1 mite (arachnid)
  2. 2 acarus

Characters

Examples

Chuáng shàng kěnéng yǒu mǎn, yào dìngqī qīngxǐ chuángdān.
There may be mites on the bed; wash bed sheets regularly.
Chén mǎn huì yǐnqǐ guòmǐn fǎnyìng.
Dust mites can cause allergic reactions.

Tips

memory
has the insect radical on the left, signaling it is a tiny creature. Common compounds: 尘螨 (dust mite), 螨虫 (mite).

Components

radical
chóng
insect; bug
Left insect radical - originally a pictograph of a coiled snake-like creature, broadened over time to cover all small crawling animals: insects, arachnids, worms, even some reptiles. The indexing element. Puts in the tiny-creature family with (mosquito), (spider), (ant), (fly), (flea). The radical states: this is a small living thing that crawls.
phonetic
cǎo
grass
Upper-right - top piece of the right-side phonetic complex. Together with the below it spells out the top of (mǎn, full), which is the actual phonetic supplying 's reading. On its own the grass-cap doesn't carry meaning here; it's the upper half of the full mǎn phonetic graph cut into two leaves.
phonetic
liǎng
two; pair
Lower-right - bottom piece of the phonetic complex. Combined with above, it forms the upper-right element of ('full') minus the water radical, the actual phonetic that gives its reading mǎn. The phonetic was chosen for sound only. Same phonetic series: (deceive), (limp).

Stroke Order

mǎn