美貌 (měi mào) — beautiful appearance; good looks

Definition

noun

beautiful appearancegood looks

美貌。
Tā de měi mào ràng rén yìn xiàng shēn kè.
Her beauty leaves a deep impression.
美貌，。
měi mào Bìng bú shì zuì zhòng yào de, rén pǐn gèng zhòng yào.
Good looks are not the most important thing; character matters more.
美貌。
Nà wèi nǚ yǎn yuán yǐ měi mào zhù chēng.
That actress is famous for her beauty.

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.

美měibeautiful

貌màoappearance

美貌 combines 美 for beauty with 貌 for appearance, giving the idea of beautiful looks.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

美 shows 大, a person, wearing 羊, a headdress of feathers or ram's horn.

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú

皃皃màolooks

Sound part声符shēngfú

豹

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

貌 uses 皃, an older picture of a face, to show looks, and 豹 as a sound part.

Appears in