| Chinese Text Project |
| 美 U+7F8E |  Seal script |  Jinwen |  Jiaguwen | 羙 Semantic variant |
| Radical: | 羊+ 3 strokes = 9 strokes total. |
|---|---|
| References: | Guangyun: p.247#16 Kangxi: p.951#10 Cihai: p.1069r5c01 GSR: 568.a Hanyu: v5,p3126#05 |
| Composition: | Top: 𦍌, bottom: 大. Component of: 𠝫 𨺰 𡎤 𡮔 𢱒 𪻄 媄 嵄 渼 𨸈 𠸍 𬙴 𣈸 𣖙 𣮺 𪹏 𤧞 𫞁 𦝺 𭭥 [More] |
| Mandarin: | měi ㄇㄟˇ |
| Cantonese: | mei5 |
| Tang reconstruction: | *myǐ |
| Shuowen: | 《羊部》美：甘也。从羊从大。羊在六畜主給膳也。美與善同意。 |
| Guangyun: | 《廣韻·上聲·旨·美》美：好色。《說文》曰：甘也，从羊从大羊在六畜主給膳也，美与善同意。無鄙切，五。 |
| Kangxi: | 《康熙字典·羊部·三》美：《廣韻》《集韻》《韻會》𠀤無鄙切，音眯。《說文》甘也。从羊从大。羊在六畜，主給膳也。美與善同意。《註》羊大則美，故从大。《五經文字》从犬从火者，譌。《詩·召南·甘棠序》美召伯也。《疏》善者言美，惡者言刺。又《廣韻》好色。《詩·邶風》匪女之爲美。《傳》非爲其徒說美色而已。又《正韻》嘉也，好也。又《韻補》叶明祕切。《劉向·九歎》揚精華以眩耀兮，芬郁渥而成美。結桂樹之旖旎兮，紉荃蕙與辛夷。夷音異。《玉篇》或作媺。 |
| Fanqie: | 無鄙 (《廣韻·上聲·旨·美》) |
| Unihan definition: | beautiful, pretty; pleasing |
Example usage
| 《論語·學而》: | 先王之道斯為美，小大由之。 |
| In the ways prescribed by the ancient kings, this is the excellent quality, and in things small and great we follow them. | |
| 《孟子·盡心上》: | 公孫丑曰：「道則高矣，美矣，宜若登天然，似不可及也。」 |
| Gong Sun Chou said, 'Lofty are your principles and admirable, but to learn them may well be likened to ascending the heavens - something which cannot be reached.' | |
| 《禮記·問喪》: | 夫悲哀在中，故形變於外也，痛疾在心，故口不甘味，身不安美也。 |
| The internal grief and sorrow produced a change in his outward appearance; and with the severe pain in his heart, his mouth could not relish any savoury food, nor his body find ease in anything pleasant. | |
| 《孝經·事君》: | 子曰：「君子之事上也，進思盡忠，退思補過，將順其美，匡救其惡，故上下能相親也。」 |
| The Master said, "The superior man serves his ruler in such a way that, when at court in his presence, his thought is how to discharge his loyal duty to the utmost, and when he retires from it, his thought is how to amend his errors. He carries out with deference the measures springing from his excellent qualities and rectifies him (only) to save him from what are evil. Hence, as the superior and inferior, they are able to have an affection for each other." | |
| 《揚子法言》: | 或曰：「良玉不雕，美言不文，何謂也？」 |
| Someone said: "Excellent jade need not be carved, and beautiful words need not be refined." What would you say about that? | |
| 《墨子·經上》: | 譽，明美也。 |
| To yu (praise) is to make plain what is honourable. | |
| 《莊子·齊物論》: | 毛嬙、麗姬，人之所美也，魚見之深入，鳥見之高飛，麋鹿見之決驟。 |
| Mao Qiang and Li Ji were accounted by men to be most beautiful, but when fishes saw them, they dived deep in the water from them; when birds, they flew from them aloft; and when deer saw them, they separated and fled away. | |
| 《道德經》: | 天下皆知美之為美，斯惡已。 |
| All in the world know the beauty of the beautiful, and in doing this they have (the idea of) what ugliness is. | |
| 《商君書·去強》: | 三官者生蝨官者六：曰歲，曰食，曰美，曰好，曰志，曰行，六者有樸必削。 |
| And these three functions give rise to six parasitic functions, which are called: care for old age, living on others, beauty, love, ambition and virtuous conduct. If these six parasites find an attachment, there will be dismemberment. | |
| 《史記·五帝本紀》: | 此十六族者，世濟其美，不隕其名。 |
| Of these sixteen men after ages have acknowledged the excellence, and not let their names fall to the ground. | |
| 《荀子·大略》: | 劫迫於暴國而無所辟之，則崇其善，揚其美，言其所長，而不稱其所短也。 |
| 《說苑·君道》: | 吾聞君子成人之美，不成人之惡。 |
| 《春秋繁露·玉杯》: | 是故善為師者，既美其道，有慎其行，齊時蚤晚，任多少，適疾徐，造而勿趨，稽而勿苦，省其所為，而成其所湛，故力不勞而身大成。 |
| 《韓詩外傳·卷一》: | 雖不能盡乎美者，必有處也。 |
| 《大戴禮記》: | 雖不能盡善盡美，必有所處焉。 |
| 《白虎通德論·號》: | 皇，君也，美也，大也。 |
| 《新書·脩政語上》: | 故明君敬士察吏愛民，以參其極，非此者，則四美不附矣。 |
| 《新序·善謀下》: | 因秦之固，資甚美膏腴之地，此謂天府。 |
| 《中論·治學》: | 學猶飾也，器不飾則無以為美觀，人不學則無以有懿德。 |
| 《孔子家語·五儀解》: | 公曰：「美哉！」 |
| 《潛夫論·讚學》: | 是故君子之求豐厚也，非為嘉饌、美服、淫樂、聲色也，乃將以底其道而邁其德也。 |
| 《論衡·命祿》: | 人謂雎、澤美善所致，非也，皆命祿貴富善至之時也。 |
| 《太玄經·童》: | 次五，蒙柴求兕，其德不美。 |
| 《風俗通義》: | 風者、天氣有寒煖，地形有險易，水泉有美惡，草木有剛柔也。 |
| 《孔叢子·廣詁》: | 邵、媚、旨、伐，美也。 |
| 《申鑒·政體》: | 一曰不知，二曰不進，三曰不任，四曰不終，五曰以小怨棄大德，六曰以小過黜大功，七曰以小失掩大美，八曰以奸訐傷忠正，九曰以邪說亂正度，十曰以讒嫉廢賢能。 |
| 《忠經·忠諫章》: | 其能使君改過為美，社稷之安固也。 |
| 《素書·遵義章》: | 聽讒而美，聞諫而仇者亡，能有其有者安。 |
| 《新語·道基》: | 伯夷、叔齊餓於首陽，功美垂於萬代。 |
| 《獨斷·卷上》: | 六號之別名：神號、尊其名更為美稱，若曰皇天上帝也。 |
| 《蔡中郎集·獨斷》: | 六號之別名：神號、尊其名更為美稱，若曰皇天上帝也。 |
| 《列子·黃帝》: | 雲霧不硋其視，雷霆不亂其聽，美惡不滑其心，山谷不躓其步，神行而已。 |
| 《鶡冠子·環流》: | 美惡相飾，命曰復周，物極則反，命曰環流。 |
| 《文子·精誠》: | 大以小為本，多以少為始，天子以天地為品，以萬物為資，功德至大，勢名至貴，二德之美與天地配，故不可不軌大道以為天下母。 |
| 《列仙傳·呂尚》: | 遠代所稱，美哉天人。 |
| 《老子河上公章句》: | 常名當如嬰兒之未言，雞子之未分，明珠在蚌中，美玉處石間，內雖昭昭，外如愚頑。 |
| 《韓非子·愛臣》: | 萬物莫如身之至貴也，此四美者不求諸外，不請於人，議之而得之矣。 |
| 《申不害·大體》: | 今使烏獲、彭祖負千鈞之重，而懷琬琰之美，令孟賁、成荊帶干將之劍衛之，行乎幽道，則盜猶偷之矣。 |
| 《慎子·威德》: | 使得美者，不知所以德。 |
| 《諫逐客書》: | 是以地無四方，民無異國，四時充美，鬼神降福，此五帝、三王之所以無敵也。 |
| 《管子·輕重己》: | 黍者，穀之美者也。 |
You can examine all occurrences of this character or phrase in Pre-Qin and Han texts or Post-Han texts on the site.
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