Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Textiles, Plants & Food

苗: seedling, sapling

Also: shoot

JLPT N18 strokesSecondary schoolYour ink: 白 Not met

艹 carries the meaning · 田 is drawn in

8 strokes
  • Bronze · Western Zhou
  • Today

Bronze: Wikimedia Commons, traced from Academia Sinica, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Three readings, and the words that use each

ビョウbyou · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 種苗しゅびょうseeds and seedlings

ミョウmyou · on'yomi

  • 苗字みょうじsurname; family name; last name

なえnae · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 苗なえseedling; young plant
  • 苗木なえぎseedling; sapling; young tree
  • 早苗さなえrice seedling
  • 苗床なえどこseedbed; nursery; seed-plot

Also read なわ-, with no example words in our sources. Words: JMdict, EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
Print sheet Present
成り立ち

Where it comes from

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Grass growing on top! Like a green crown upon the earth, this radical sits above kanji related to flowers, herbs, and vegetation.”
More in the 艹 grass story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
艹

Also built on grass (艹)

All 74
田

Also built on rice paddy (田)

All 24

苗 gives its sound to

The family reading is ビョウ (byou). Sound parts: KanjiVG.

Also read ビョウ

6 kanji share this on'yomi

Also read ミョウ

7 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
苗 seedling · 艹
vs果 fruit · 木
苗 has 艹 where 果 has 木.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · miáo

Same form: 苗 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).

Simplified
苗 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
苗 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin miáo most common reading

Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.

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