Kilo Lingo

(měi) - every, each in Mandarin

měi

Traditional: 每

Line drawing of 每
Coloured illustration of 每
HSK 2
#574 of 5,000 Core 1000

Translation

every, each

Word origin

每 (měi) 'every, each' shows a person, originally a kneeling mother figure, topped by a hair ornament. It shares its upper element with 母 'mother' and was likely borrowed for the grammatical sense 'every'.

Origin
phono-semantic compound
Root
elements shared with 母 (mother)

Stroke order

Stroke order for 每

每

Examples

。

Every day I go to school.

。

Every person has their own story.

。

I contact him every week.

。

Every week I go to the library.

。

I drink water every day.

每 (měi) means every or each and is always used with a time word or measure word (每天, every day; 每个人, every person; 每次, every time). It does not stand alone and requires a following noun or noun phrase. 每 is often paired with 都 (dōu, all) in the predicate to reinforce universality: 每个人都要遵守规则 (every person must follow the rules). It contrasts with 各 (gè, each separately) which highlights individual differences.

Where this fits

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Appears in 3 words

Multi-character compounds in the corpus that contain 每.

每个měi gèevery, each person or thing每天měi tiānevery day每次měi cìevery time, each time

Used in

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Mandarin · Free printables

每: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "每" (every, each): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

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This word is part of lesson 12.