p8nda
p8nda BETA
Home Dictionary Translate Flashcards Sign in

靡

mǐ / mí
verb #38,331

Meanings

  1. 1 to be strewn; to be laid low (by wind, by force)
  2. 2 no; not; none
  3. 3 to be swept along; to follow (a trend)

Examples

这支军队所向披靡，无人可挡。
Zhè zhī jūnduì suǒxiàngpīmǐ, wú rén kě dǎng.
Wherever this army goes, all resistance is swept aside.
这首歌在八十年代风靡全国。
Zhè shǒu gē zài bāshí niándài fēngmǐ quán guó.
This song was wildly popular throughout the entire country in the eighties.
几次挫折后，他精神萎靡，振作不起来。
Jǐ cì cuòzhé hòu, tā jīngshén wěimǐ, zhènzuò bu qǐlái.
After several setbacks his spirits sagged and he could not rouse himself.

Tips

usage
The mǐ reading lives in a handful of high-impact compounds. 风靡 (literally 'wind-bends-down') = wildly popular, sweep through a population. 萎靡 (wilted-and-bowed) = listless, dispirited; a fixed compound for low mood or fading vitality. 披靡 (strewn-and-flattened) appears chiefly in the chengyu 所向披靡 'wherever pointed, the enemy is flattened' — a praise for an unstoppable force. Literary 靡 can also mean 'no; not', as in 靡不 (there is none who is not).
mistakes
Two readings — choose by sense. mǐ (3rd tone, this entry) = strewn / swept along / no — the dynamic 'bent flat' senses, all the famous compounds (风靡, 萎靡, 所向披靡). The 靡 reading (2nd tone, see the mí entry) is restricted to 'waste, squander' — almost only in 奢靡 (extravagant) and 靡费 (wasteful).

Components

radical
非 fēi
not; non-
Bottom 非 — the indexing radical (Kangxi #175). Originally a pictograph of a bird's two wings spread in opposite directions, hence 'not / contrary'. Reinforces the negative / dispersed senses of 靡: 'not standing up', 'scattered like opposing wings'. The negation flavour of 非 is the source of the literary 靡 = 'no; none'.
phonetic
麻 má
hemp; supplying the sound
Top-left 麻 (hemp) — supplies both the sound (má → mǐ / mí, a regular shift) and a soft semantic flavour: hemp stalks are tall and bend in the wind, fitting the 'strewn / laid low' core. The same phonetic appears in 魔 (demon), 磨 (grind), 摩 (rub) — recognising the má phonetic unlocks all of them.

Stroke Order

靡 mǐ