眉 (méi): eyebrow, upper margin
眉 (méi) is a Chinese character meaning “eyebrow.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 尸 (structural) and 目 (structural). It ranks #1451 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 眉 picture of hair 尸 above an eye 目. Its radical form 目 (eye) appears in many related characters such as 看 (kàn, to look, to see), 真 (zhēn, really), 着 (zhe, -ing, to wear).
Definitions
- eyebrow
- upper margin
Etymology & Origin
ideographicPicture of hair 尸 above an eye 目
Decomposition: ⿸尸目 (layout: surround-from-upper-left)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 眉 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 眉
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 眉目noun | méi mù | general facial appearance |
| 迫在眉睫phrase | pò zài méi jié | pressing in on one's eyelashes (idiom) |
| 眉头noun | méi tóu | brows |
| 皱眉头verb | zhòu méi tóu | to scowl |
| 皱眉verb | zhòu méi | to frown |
| 眉心noun | méi xīn | (the space) between the eyebrows |
| 愁眉不展phrase | chóu méi bù zhǎn | with a worried frown |
| 画眉noun | huà méi | to apply makeup to the eyebrows |
| 眉笔noun | méi bǐ | eyebrow pencil (cosmetics) |
| 眉目传情phrase | méi mù chuán qíng | to make sheep eyes at |
| 挤眉弄眼 | jǐ méi nòng yǎn | to make eyes |
| 燃眉之急phrase | rán méi zhī jí | lit. the fire burns one's eyebrows (idiom) |
| 眉睫noun | méi jié | eyebrows and eyelashes |
| 眉梢noun | méi shāo | tip of brow |
| 眉清目秀phrase | méi qīng mù xiù | pretty |
眉 appears in 100 compound words: 28 as the first character, 24 as the last, and 48 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 眉 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (28)
lit. furrowed brows and blazing eyes; to dart looks of hate at sb (idiom)
lit. furrowed brows and blazing eyes; to dart looks of hate at sb (idiom)
Showing 12 of 28 idioms containing 眉.
Example Sentences
这个眉字在古汉语中有不同的含义。
zhè gě méi zì zài gǔ hàn yǔ zhōng yǒu bù tóng de hán yì .
The character "眉" had different meanings in classical Chinese.
横眉冷看:年不老却头脑糊涂
héng méi lěng kàn : nián bù lǎo què tóu nǎo hú tú
A Sullen Glance: Young in Years but Fuzzy-Minded
横眉冷看:美国大兵消极怠战
héng méi lěng kàn : měi guó dà bīng xiāo jí dài zhàn
A Critical Look: U.S. Soldiers Showing a Lack of Motivation in Combat
伊能静挑战喝北京豆汁 皱眉苦喊:不行了
yī néng jìng tiāo zhàn hē běi jīng dòu zhī zhòu méi kǔ hǎn : bù háng le
Yi Nengjing challenged to drink Beijing bean juice and frowned and shouted: No way
...| 益方生物“A+H”两地上市,仅能解燃眉之急
. . . yì fāng shēng wù A H liǎng dì shàng shì , jǐn néng jiě rán méi zhī jí
...| The listing of Yifang Biotech's "A+H" in two places can only solve the urgent need
横眉冷看:一场长时间的战争
héng méi lěng kàn : yī chǎng cháng shí jiān de zhàn zhēng
Horizontal eyebrows look coldly: a long war
小林的眉毛长得浓，眼睛又大，睫毛很长。
Xiǎolín de méimao zhǎngde nóng, yǎnjing yòu dà, jiémáo hěn cháng.
Xiaolin's eyebrows are thick, his eyes are big, and his eyelashes are long.
他听到那个时，皱起了眉头。
Tā tīngdào nàge shí, zhòuqǐ le méitóu.
On hearing that, he knitted his brow.
玛丽有绿色的眉毛。
Mǎlì yǒu lǜsè de méimao.
Mary has green eyebrows.
老太太皱着眉头。
Lǎotàitai zhòu zhe méitóu.
The old woman knitted her brows.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
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Is 眉 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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