What 么 means
Read the whole word; 么 rarely translates alone.
In 什么 (“what”) and 怎么 (“how”), 么 is the simplified form of traditional 麼; the full word supplies its meaning.
《说文解字》 (Shuowen Jiezi), an early Chinese character dictionary completed around 100 CE, glosses 幺 as “small” and compares its shape to a newborn child. In Taiwan, 么 is also a written form of 幺, used for “small,” “youngest,” or “one.”
Inside compounds, 么 is ordinary written Chinese.
Part of the collection
Who writes 么
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Don't confuse it with
1
Related characters
2
Combination ideas
3what
how
either/or; introduces alternatives
Questions people ask
1Why does 么 show as a box on some devices?
Because that device's fonts have no glyph for it. The character is still correct and still copies correctly — the box is a missing glyph, not a broken character.
More like this
10
Collections with 么
2
How to type or find 么
- Search it as
- 么 meaning · what does 么 mean · 么 in 什么 · 么 in 怎么 · 么 vs 吗 · 么 vs 麼 · 么 幺
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
Windows (Word)
Windows
HTML
么CSS
\4E48Codes and encoding1 code points
HTML decimal
么
HTML hex
么
CSS content
content: "\4E48";
Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.
URL encoded
%E4%B9%88
1
On screen
1
Code points
1
JS .length
3
UTF-8 bytes
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.