(méi): plum, plum flower, Japanese apricot (Prunus mume)

(méi) is a Chinese character meaning “plum.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #1157 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, tree. Its radical form (tree) appears in many related characters such as (běn, (bound form) root), (, machine, opportunity), (tiáo, strip).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. plum
  2. plum flower
  3. Japanese apricot (Prunus mume)

Etymology & Origin

pictophonetictree

Decomposition: ⿰木每 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

Practice writing with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
nounméi huāplum blossom6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
méi línMerlin
méi dúsyphilis
西méi xīLionel Messi (1987-), Argentine footballer
méi sīMetz (city in France)
qīng méi zhú mǎlit. green plums and hobby-horse (idiom)
méi ziplum
méi sēnMartin Mersenne (1588-1648, French mathematician)
dé méi yīnDes Moines, capital of Iowa
mǐ gāo méiMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer (American media company)
suān méipreserved plum
kǎ méi lúnCameron (name)
méi sèMoses (Catholic translation)
bù lái méiBremen (city)
méi yǔEast Asian rainy season (in late spring and early summer)
鹿méi huā lùsika deer
75
Total compounds
57
As first character
17
As last character
25
As middle character

appears in 75 compound words: 57 as the first character, 17 as the last, and 25 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

zhú
0.52234,722 co-occurrences
fāng
0.46814,430 co-occurrences
qīng
0.44638,166 co-occurrences
ěr
0.44670,563 co-occurrences
0.42797,812 co-occurrences
0.41222,542 co-occurrences
píng
0.4084,068 co-occurrences
0.40433,810 co-occurrences
lún
0.40310,974 co-occurrences
0.40214,112 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (4)

ĒnjiǎméinàHSK 7+

N'Djamena (the capital city of Chad)

tà xuě xún méiHSK 6+

to walk in the snow to view the flowering plum

phrase
wàngméizhǐkěHSK 6+

to console oneself with illusions

phrase

Showing 3 of 4 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这片森里生活着许多珍稀的野生动物。

zhè piān sēn méi lǐ shēng huó zhe xǔ duō zhēn xī de yě shēng dòng wù .

This stretch of Senmeri is home to many rare wildlife species.

TvbsFeb 2026

张琼姿餐厅卷入高金素涉贪案 昔“车内密会潘若迪”险被离婚

zhāng 琼 zī cān tīng juǎn rù gāo jīn sù méi shè tān àn xī chē nèi mì huì pān ruò dí xiǎn bèi lí hūn

Zhang Qiongzi's restaurant was involved in Gao Jin Sumei's corruption case, and the former "secret meeting Pan Ruodi in the car" was almost divorced

透视俄罗斯 | 俄罗斯新闻Feb 2026

卡尔科娃体操世界杯德国站勇夺双金

kǎ ěr méi kē wá tǐ cāo shì jiè bēi dé guó zhàn yǒng duó shuāng jīn

Kalmykova won double gold at the Gymnastics World Cup in Germany

東森新聞Feb 2026

高金素诈助理费再扩大!张琼姿餐厅卷贪污案

gāo jīn sù méi zhà zhù lǐ fèi zài kuò dà ! zhāng 琼 zī cān tīng juǎn tān wū àn

Gao Jin Sumei's fraud assistant fee is expanded again! Zhang Qiongzi's restaurant is involved in the corruption case

Hk01.comFeb 2026

...吡阿仙奴作客4:1胜热刺 伊斯、约基尼斯开二度

. . . 吡 ā xiān nú zuò kè 4 : 1 shèng rè cì yī sī , yuē jī ní sī méi kāi èr dù

... Arsenal beat Tottenham Hotspur 4-1 away from home Isis and Jokinis scored twice

Tatoeba

格同意肯的计划。

Méi gé tóngyì kěn de jìhuà.

Meg agreed to Ken's plan.

Tatoeba

格连看都不看我。

Méi gé lián kàn dōu bù kàn wǒ.

Meg didn't even look at me.

Tatoeba

琳达舞可以跳得跟格一样好。

Lín dá wǔ kěyǐ tiào de gēn méi gé yīyàng hǎo.

Linda can dance as well as Meg.

Tatoeba

格和肯坐在长椅上。

Méi gé hé kěn zuò zài chángyǐ shàng.

Meg and Ken sat on the bench.

Tatoeba

格买了一罐西红柿。

Méi gé mǎi le yī guàn xīhóngshì.

Meg bought a can of tomatoes.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced méi

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 梅 (méi) mean in Chinese?
梅 (méi) primarily means "plum." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1157 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 梅 and 海?
梅 (méi) and 海 (hǎi) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 木 vs 氵 (same 每 component).
How many strokes does 梅 have?
梅 is written with 11 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 梅?
The radical associated with 梅 is 木 (tree). This radical appears in many characters related to tree.
What are the components of 梅?
梅 is composed of: 木 (semantic), 每 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰木每 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 梅?
Common words with 梅 include: 梅林 (méi lín, "Merlin"); 梅毒 (méi dú, "syphilis"); 梅西 (méi xī, "Lionel Messi (1987-), Argentine footballer"); 梅斯 (méi sī, "Metz (city in France)"); 青梅竹马 (qīng méi zhú mǎ, "lit. green plums and hobby-horse (idiom)"). There are over 75 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 梅 (méi)?
Several characters share the pronunciation méi: 霉 (mold), 没 ((negative prefix for verbs) have not), 枚 (classifier for small objects: coins, badges, rings, carved seals, chess pieces, eggs, fingerprints etc (more formal than 個|个)), 玫 ((fine jade)), and 3 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 梅 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 梅 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.