How to Write 嵋 (méi) — Meaning “Mei (mountain name)”

Picture a mountain (山) with two curved lines on top like eyebrows (眉). This visual matches the description of Mount Emei, whose twin peaks are said to look like the delicate eyebrows of a beautiful woman. The character literally combines 'mountain' and 'eyebrow' to make that image easy to recall.

Write the left radical 山 first with three strokes, then the right part 眉 with nine strokes. Pay special attention to the top of 眉: it is written like 尸 (corpse) but with a dot in the 'eye' area below — many learners forget that inner dot. Keep the right side slightly wider than the left to balance the character.

峨 (é) is used in the same compound 峨嵋 to mean 'lofty' or specifically for Mount Emei, but 峨 alone is not a mountain name. 峪 (yù) means 'valley' and has 谷 (gǔ, valley) as its right part. In contrast, 嵋 is only used as the second character in the name 峨嵋山 and never appears alone in modern Chinese.

嵋 is almost exclusively found in the place name 峨嵋山 (Mount Emei), a famous sacred Buddhist mountain in Sichuan Province, China. You might also see it in the shortened form 峨嵋, but the character is rarely used outside this context. Culturally, Mount Emei is one of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China and a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Common words containing 嵋 include: 峨嵋山 (é méi shān) — Mount Emei; 峨嵋 (é méi) — Mount Emei; 嵋山 (méi shān) — Mount Mei.