(): (literary) to seek, to find

() is a Chinese character meaning “(literary) to seek.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #2649 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, to search for something with eyes 见 and hands 爫. Its radical form (see) appears in many related characters such as (jiàn, to see), (guàn, to look at), (guī, compass).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. (literary) to seek
  2. to find

Etymology & Origin

ideographicTo search for something with eyes 见 and hands 爫

Decomposition: ⿱爫见 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
xún mìto look for
mì shíto forage
tà pò tiě xié wú mì chù , dé lái quán bù fèi gōng futo travel far and wide looking for sth, only to find it easily
mì shí xíng wéiforaging
lìng mì xīn huānto seek happiness elsewhere (euphemism for extramarital sex)
bì mén mì jùlit. lock the door and search for the right word (idiom)
mì qǔto seek
mì jùto search for the right word (of poet)
qí lǘ mì lǘsee 騎驢找驢|骑驴找驴[qi2 lu:2 zhao3 lu:2]
9
Total compounds
44
As first character
11
As last character
44
As middle character

appears in 9 compound words: 44 as the first character, 11 as the last, and 44 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.

xún
0.5511,488 co-occurrences
shí
0.5434,791 co-occurrences
zōng
0.417288 co-occurrences
nán
0.407414 co-occurrences
0.37742 co-occurrences
婿
0.37460 co-occurrences
0.37390 co-occurrences
jǐn
0.361132 co-occurrences
é
0.35536 co-occurrences
chóng
0.35178 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

bì mén mì jùHSK 7+

lit. lock the door and search for the right word (idiom); fig. the serious hard work of writing

phrase
qí lǘ mì lǘHSK 7+

see 騎驢找驢|骑驴找驴[qi2 lu:2 zhao3 lu:2]

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

写好字需要掌握正确的笔画顺序。

xiě hǎo mì zì xū yāo zhǎng wò zhēng què de bǐ huà shùn xù .

To write the character "觅" correctly, you need to master the proper stroke order.

Yahoo FinanceMar 2026

工商铺点评|旅游复苏香港新引擎|江静明

gōng shāng pù diǎn píng lǚ yóu fù sū xiāng gǎng mì xīn yǐn qíng jiāng jìng míng

Business Review | Hong Kong Seeks New Drivers for Tourism Recovery | Jiang Jingming

東方日報Mar 2026

【东方日报世界视线】阿拉伯国家弃美 和平繁荣新路

dōng fāng rì bào shì jiè shì xiàn ā lā bó guó jiā qì měi mì hé píng fán róng xīn lù

[Oriental Daily: Global Perspective] Arab Nations Turn Away from the U.S. to Seek a New Path to Peace and Prosperity

東方日報Mar 2026

世界视线:阿拉伯国家弃美 和平繁荣新路

shì jiè shì xiàn : ā lā bó guó jiā qì měi mì hé píng fán róng xīn lù

World View: Arab Nations Turn Away from the U.S. in Search of a New Path to Peace and Prosperity

東方日報Feb 2026

何超云得新欢心情靓 真空上阵晒玉背

hé chāo yún mì dé xīn huān xīn qíng 靓 zhēn kōng shàng zhèn shài yù bèi

He Chaoyun found a new love and was in a good mood

Hk01.comFeb 2026

浣熊闯美电视台“上流寄生” 深夜食影片爆红 网笑:让它入职

浣 xióng chuǎng měi diàn shì tái shàng liú jì shēng shēn yè mì shí yǐng piàn bào hóng wǎng xiào : ràng tā rù zhí

The raccoon broke into the American TV station's "upper class parasite" late-night foraging video became popular Internet laughter: let it be hired

Tatoeba

蝙蝠在夜中食 。

Biānfú zài yè zhōng mìshí.

Bats hunt at night.

Character Family

Radical Family — Characters sharing the see radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 觅 (mì) mean in Chinese?
觅 (mì) primarily means "(literary) to seek." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2649 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 觅 have?
觅 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 觅?
The radical associated with 觅 is 见 (see). This radical appears in many characters related to see.
What are the components of 觅?
觅 is composed of: 爫 (structural), 见 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱爫见 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 觅?
Common words with 觅 include: 寻觅 (xún mì, "to look for"); 觅食 (mì shí, "to forage"); 踏破铁鞋无觅处,得来全不费工夫 (tà pò tiě xié wú mì chù , dé lái quán bù fèi gōng fu, "to travel far and wide looking for sth, only to find it easily"); 觅食行为 (mì shí xíng wéi, "foraging"); 另觅新欢 (lìng mì xīn huān, "to seek happiness elsewhere (euphemism for extramarital sex)"). There are over 9 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 觅 (mì)?
Several characters share the pronunciation mì: 弥 (full), 迷 (lost, fascinated), 米 (uncooked rice), 秘 (see 秘魯|秘鲁), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 觅 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 觅 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.