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毫米 (háo mǐ) — millimeter

Definition

毫 (háo) = milli- (one thousandth); 毫米 is a unit of length, 10× smaller than 厘米. Use 毫升 for milliliters (volume).

classifier
millimeter

Examples

  • 毫米。
    Zhè zhāng zhǐ de hòu dù zhǐ yǒu liǎng háo mǐ.
    This sheet of paper is only two millimeters thick.
  • 毫米。
    Zuó tiān de jiàng yǔ liàng dá dào le shí háo mǐ.
    Yesterday's rainfall reached ten millimeters.
  • 毫米。
    Zhè kuài bō li de hòu dù shì wǔ háo mǐ.
    The thickness of this piece of glass is five millimeters.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

毫háoone-thousandth
米mǐmeter

毫 gives one-thousandth and 米 gives meter, giving a thousandth of a meter.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

The written form 毫 is built from 高 and 毛.

Open 毫 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

米 is a picture of rice kernels without husk, with the horizontal stroke as a bamboo sieve. It is unrelated to similar-looking grain characters.

Open 米 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 6HSK 2.0 Level 6Units & Measurement

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