About
The character "苗" is composed of the grass radical "艹" positioned above the field component "田", a structure that directly illustrates its original conception of young plants sprouting in cultivated soil. Its primary meaning historically referred to seedlings, particularly the early growth of cereal crops, which then extended metaphorically to signify descendants or progeny in literary contexts. Through phonetic loan, the character was also employed to denote certain ethnic groups, eventually crystallizing as the name for the Miao people, thereby broadening its semantic scope from agriculture to lineage and ethnonymy.
Etymology Hide
Example Sentences Hide
田里的禾苗绿油油。
小树苗需要多浇水。
她姓苗，叫苗小艺。
这些菜苗长得非常壮。
疫苗能保护我们的健康。
新品种的麦苗抗旱能力强。
她的身材保持得很苗条。
这位青年是位根正苗红的好党员。