美
bí
The English word beautiful is 美 (bí) in Hokkien.
美 is used to describe something as attractive or beautiful. In casual spoken Hokkien, people more frequently use 靚 to describe people or objects as pretty or attractive.
Meaning: attractive (adj)
Which one should you use?
The term 美麗 is a formal way to say 'beautiful' in Taiwanese.
How does it change in a sentence?
To say 'very beautiful', you can add the intensifier 真 before the adjective, resulting in 真美.
How do you pronounce it?
bí
Did you know?
- The character 美 is composed of elements meaning 'sheep' and 'big', originating from an ancient idea that a large sheep was the peak of beauty and prosperity.
- The word 美 is often used in Hokkien to describe the 'beautiful' outcome of a deal or a situation, rather than just visual aesthetics.
- Hokkien has specific terms for beauty based on the subject, where certain words for 'beautiful' are reserved exclusively for landscapes and cannot be used for people.
Examples in context
- 你的新髮型好漂亮 (lí ê sin huat-heng hó piau-liáu)Your new hairstyle looks really pretty.
- 伊真美She is very beautiful
- 伊真美。i chin bē.She is very beautiful.
Example conversation
Meiling and Guoqiang are looking at a garden.
- 美玲 Mei-ling國強，你看這座花園美不美？Kók-kiông, lí khuànn tsè tsò hoa-uân bí m̄ bí?Guoqiang, look, is this garden beautiful or not?
- 國強 Kok-kiang真的很美。Tsin-tsin hó bí.It is truly beautiful.
- 美玲 Mei-ling我最喜歡這裡的風景。Góa tsuè hué-huann tsia ê fung-kíng.I like the scenery here the most.
- 國強 Kok-kiang我也覺得很美。Góa iā kak-tek tsin bí.I also think it's very beautiful.
