弥 (mí): full, to fill, completely

弥 (mí) is a Chinese character meaning “full.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 弓 (semantic) and 尔 (phonetic). It ranks #1768 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 弥 bow. Its radical form 弓 (bow) appears in many related characters such as 弟 (dì, younger brother), 张 (zhāng, to open up), 强 (qiáng, stubborn).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. full
  2. to fill
  3. completely

Etymology & Origin

弥

pictophoneticbow

Decomposition: ⿰弓尔 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 弥

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
弥补verbmí bǔto complement6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
弥撒nounmí sa(Catholic) Mass
弥漫verbmí mànto pervade
弥赛亚proper-nounmí sài yàMessiah
阿弥陀佛proper-nounē mí tuó fóAmitabha Buddha
弥留verbmí liúseriously ill and about to die
弥散verbmí sànto dissipate everywhere (of light, sound, gas etc)
弥足珍贵phrasemí zú zhēn guìextremely precious
历久弥新phraselì jiǔ mí xīnlit. long in existence but ever new (idiom)
弥合verbmí héto cause a wound to close up and heal
弥渡proper-nounmí dùsee 彌渡縣|弥渡县
弥勒佛proper-nounmí lè fóMaitreya
弥勒proper-nounmí lèMaitreya, the future Bodhisattva, to come after Shakyamuni Buddha
日久弥新rì jiǔ mí xīnsee 歷久彌新|历久弥新
弥留之际phrasemí liú zhī jìon one's deathbed
笑口弥勒xiào kǒu mí lèlaughing Maitreya
39
Total compounds
67
As first character
5
As last character
28
As middle character

弥 appears in 39 compound words: 67 as the first character, 5 as the last, and 28 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 弥 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

忒tè
0.84016 co-occurrences
撒sā
0.5561,962 co-occurrences
补bǔ
0.5273,498 co-occurrences
须xū
0.5071,424 co-occurrences
勒lè
0.4412,024 co-occurrences
漫màn
0.420869 co-occurrences
佛fó
0.4121,046 co-occurrences
雾wù
0.409122 co-occurrences
瑕xiá
0.40166 co-occurrences
柴chái
0.399402 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (8)

阿弥陀佛Ēmítuófó

Amitābha; An expression for praying to Buddha for protection or thanksgiving.

历久弥新lìjiǔmíxīnHSK 6+

to last long and become even more vigorous as time passes

phrase
弥勒菩萨Mílè PúsàHSK 7+

Maitreya bodhisattva

弥留之际míliúzhījìHSK 6+

When one is ill and on one's deathbed.

phrase
弥天大谎mítiāndàhuǎngHSK 7+

an enormous lie

phrase
弥足珍贵mízúzhēnguìHSK 6+

extremely precious; valuable

phrase
日久弥新rì jiǔ mí xīnHSK 6+

see 歷久彌新|历久弥新

phrase
欲盖弥彰yùgàimízhāngHSK 7+

to attempt to cover up the truth but the truth becomes more apparent or further exposed

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

学习弥字需要反复练习,才能写得工整。

xué xí mí zì xū yāo fǎn fù liàn xí , cái néng xiě dé gōng zhěng .

Mastering the character "羲" requires repeated practice to achieve neatness in writing.

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

卡塔尔、巴林等国传出爆炸声 烟雾弥漫空中

kǎ tǎ ěr , bā lín děng guó chuán chū bào zhà shēng yān wù mí màn kōng zhōng

Explosions were heard in Qatar, Bahrain and other countries, and smoke filled the air

99 健康网Feb 2026

子宫腺肌瘤怎么治最好?局限型比弥漫型更适合手术剔除吗

zǐ gōng xiàn jī liú zěn má zhì zuì hǎo ? jú xiàn xíng bǐ mí màn xíng gēng shì gě shǒu shù tī chú ma

How is adenofibroids best treated? Is the localized type more suitable for surgical removal than the diffuse type?

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

“弥赛亚”情结 别急着套蒋万安身上

mí sài yà qíng jié bié jí zhe tào 蒋 wàn ān shēn shàng

"Messiah" complex, don't rush to put it on Jiang Wan'an

光明网_新闻视野、文化视角、思想深度、理论高度Feb 2026

云南弥勒发现2000多年前青铜工匠墓地_光明网

yún nán mí lè fā xiàn 2 0 0 0 duō nián qián qīng tóng gōng jiàng mù dì guāng míng wǎng

Yunnan Maitreya discovered a bronze craftsman cemetery more than 2,000 years ago_Guangming.com

99 健康网Feb 2026

...喝了酒对宝宝有没有影响?出生后能通过干预弥补损伤吗

. . . hē le jiǔ duì bǎo bǎo yǒu méi yǒu yǐng xiǎng ? chū shēng hòu néng tōng guò gān yù mí bǔ sǔn shāng ma

... Does drinking alcohol affect the baby? Can the damage be compensated for by intervention after birth?

Tatoeba

她缓缓消失在雾气弥漫的森林中。

Tā huǎnhuǎn xiāoshī zài wùqì mímàn de sēnlín zhōng.

She slowly disappeared into the foggy forest.

Tatoeba

玫瑰的芬芳弥漫了整个房间.

Méiguī de fēnfāng mímàn le zhěnggè fángjiān.

The smell of roses filled the room.

Tatoeba

弥补永远不会太晚。

Míbǔ yǒngyuǎn bù huì tài wǎn.

It's never too late to make amends.

Tatoeba

您必须弥补损失。

Nín bìxū míbǔ sǔnshī.

You must make up for the loss.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 弓 (bow) component

弓 Radical Family — Characters sharing the bow radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced mí

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 弥 (mí) mean in Chinese?
弥 (mí) primarily means "full." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1768 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 弥 and 空?
弥 (mí) and 空 (kōng) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 弥 (full) vs 空 (empty).
How many strokes does 弥 have?
弥 is written with 8 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 弥?
The radical associated with 弥 is 弓 (bow). This radical appears in many characters related to bow.
What are the components of 弥?
弥 is composed of: 弓 (semantic), 尔 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰弓尔 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 弥?
Common words with 弥 include: 弥补 (mí bǔ, "to complement"); 弥撒 (mí sa, "(Catholic) Mass"); 弥漫 (mí màn, "to pervade"); 弥赛亚 (mí sài yà, "Messiah"); 阿弥陀佛 (ē mí tuó fó, "Amitabha Buddha"). There are over 39 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 弥 (mí)?
Several characters share the pronunciation mí: 密 (dense, secret), 米 (uncooked rice), 秘 (secret), 迷 (lost, fascinated), and 3 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 弥 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 弥 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 弥 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken 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.