Definitions

me interrogative particle

Etymology

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Variant form of .

Semantic: Phonetic:

About

The character "麽" is the simplified form of "麼", which structurally combines the component "麻" with "么", where "么" conveys the concept of smallness and indicates the character's early lexical meaning of "fine" or "minute". Over time, this original sense receded as the character became predominantly grammatical, evolving to function as a suffix in interrogatives such as "什麼" (what) and "怎麼" (how), and as a modal particle in questions, thereby transitioning from a word with concrete meaning to one with primarily syntactic roles.

Example Sentences Hide

這是什東西?

Zhè shì shénme dōngxi?

What is this thing?

他這快就回來了。

Tā zhème kuài jiù huíláile.

He came back so quickly.

我們開始吧。

Nàme wǒmen kāishǐ ba.

Then let's start.

美麗的風景啊!

Duōme měilì de fēngjǐng a!

How beautiful the scenery is!

你要去要留。

Nǐ yàome qù yàome liú.

You either go or stay.

你知道這是什意思嗎?

Nǐ zhīdào zhè shì shénme yìsi ma?

Do you know what this means?

無論多困難,我們都要堅持。

Wúlùn duōme kùnnán, wǒmen dōu yào jiānchí.

No matter how difficult, we must persist.

他這做一定有他的理由,不然不會那堅決。

Tā zhème zuò yīdìng yǒu tā de lǐyóu, bùrán bù huì nàme jiānjué.

He must have his reasons for doing this, otherwise he wouldn't be so determined.