How to Write 眉 (méi) — Meaning “eyebrow”

Picture a hairy eyebrow sitting right above an eye: the top strokes look like bushy hair, and the bottom is just the eye radical 目. Also, you can think of the pinyin 'méi' as sounding like 'may' and say 'May I see your eyebrow?'

Start by writing the top part with three strokes: a short horizontal, a left-falling stroke, and a horizontal line. Then write the eye radical 目 below. A common mistake is making the top part too large or forgetting that the top horizontal should be short and not cross the left-falling stroke.

眉 has a unique top component above the eye radical, while 盯 (stare) and 盱 (wide-eyed) only have the eye radical with a different side part—盯 uses 丁 and 盱 uses 于. Visually, 眉 is taller with an extra layer, while the other two are simpler and focus on eye actions.

眉 is common in words like 眉毛 (eyebrow), 眉头 (brows, the area between them), and 眉目 (appearance or progress). Culturally, eyebrows are tied to emotions—for example, the idiom 眉开眼笑 describes a happy, smiling face, and people often comment on eyebrows in descriptions of beauty or expression.

Common words containing 眉 include: 眉毛 (méi máo) — eyebrow; 眉头 (méi tóu) — brows; the area between the eyebrows; 眉目 (méi mù) — appearance; logic; progress.