密 (mì): dense

Meanings

1 dense
2 close
3 secret
4 intimate

Characters

密

mì

dense; secret; close

Examples

这片森林很密。

Zhè piàn sēnlín hěn mì.

This forest is very dense.

这是秘密。

Zhè shì mìmì.

This is a secret.

他们的关系很密切。

Tāmen de guānxì hěn mìqiè.

Their relationship is very close.

Tips

usage

密 has two main senses: physical density (密集 = dense, packed) and secrecy (秘密 = secret, 密码 = password).

Components

radical

宀 mián

roof (radical)

Top radical 宀 — a peaked roof with two short walls, indexing radical for 密. Establishes the inside-the-house frame: things hidden indoors, packed densely under one roof. Same radical anchors the household family 家 (home), 室 (room), 安 (peace), 客 (guest), 守 (guard).

phonetic

必 bì

must; certainly (phonetic)

Middle 必 — supplies the sound (bì → mì, a related labial reading) and a faint flavour of 'certain, fixed'. Together with 宀 above it forms the sub-compound 宓 (quiet, hidden), and bì-mì also drives 蜜 (honey) and 谧 (tranquil) in the same sound family. Things kept indoors and out of sight.

semantic

山 shān

mountain (semantic)

Bottom 山 — three peaks added beneath the 宓 cluster, contributing the image of remote mountain seclusion. Mountain hideaways were the classical setting for things kept secret and dense vegetation kept thickly hidden. Hence the modern split between 'dense, packed' and 'secret, hidden' — both rooted in this concealed-mountain-house picture.