Mi was the ancestral clan surname of the Chu royal house.
Tips
culture
Literally an imitation of a sheep's bleat. As a surname, 芈 was the ancient clan name of the 楚国 royal family; it became widely recognised again through the TV drama 芈月传 ('The Legend of Mi Yue').
Components
pictograph
芈mǐ
to bleat (of a sheep)
A single indivisible glyph. It is built from the sheep graph 羊 with an added stroke suggesting the open-mouthed sound, so the whole character pictures a sheep bleating and is not split into independent parts.
Filed under radical 羊 (yáng, #123) by convention. 羊 is not a separate component in 芈, so no strokes are highlighted.
