美眉

Chinese

		beautiful; beauty; America	eyebrow; upper margin
trad. (美眉)		美	眉
simp. #(美眉)		美	眉
alternative forms		MM
Literally: “beautiful eyebrow”.

Etymology

From Taiwanese Mandarin 妹妹 (měiméi, “younger sister”); whose pronunciation is due to going through a diminutive tonal alternation.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): měiméi

  (Zhuyin): ㄇㄟˇ ㄇㄟˊ

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: měiméi
    • Zhuyin: ㄇㄟˇ ㄇㄟˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: měiméi
    • Wade–Giles: mei³-mei²
    • Yale: měi-méi
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: meeimei
    • Palladius: мэймэй (mɛjmɛj)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /meɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ meɪ̯³⁵/

Noun

美眉

1. (slang) cute or good-looking girl

See also

• 妹妹 (mèimei), 美女 (měinǚ), 靚女／靓女 (liàngnǚ)