完美
wánměi · HSK 3
perfect
💯 完 (complete) + 美 (beautiful) = complete beauty → perfect
完 means complete or finished; 美 means beautiful. Together they describe something whose beauty is fully realized, leaving nothing to add — perfect, consummate.
完 — roof 宀 + yuán 元 (phonetic)
完 is a semantic-phonetic compound: the roof 宀 suggests a house or enclosure, while 元 supplies the sound 'yuán/wán'. Originally it meant a building that was intact or whole, and the sense broadened to 'complete, finish, whole'.
美 — sheep 羊 on top + big 大 below
美 is traditionally explained as a pictograph of a person (大) wearing a large sheep or ram's-head ornament, suggesting beauty through adornment. An alternative reading takes 羊 (sheep) over 大 (big) to mean 'a big, fat sheep'—seen as delicious and pleasing, hence 'beautiful, good'.
wán měi · HSK 5
perfect
✨ 完 (complete) + 美 (beautiful) = perfect; complete beauty
完 means complete or finished, 美 means beautiful. Together, completely beautiful — nothing lacking, nothing flawed. The compound literally spells out the English sense of perfect as flawlessly whole.
完 — roof 宀 + yuán 元 (phonetic)
完 is a semantic-phonetic compound: the roof 宀 suggests a house or enclosure, while 元 supplies the sound 'yuán/wán'. Originally it meant a building that was intact or whole, and the sense broadened to 'complete, finish, whole'.
美 — sheep 羊 on top + big 大 below
美 is traditionally explained as a pictograph of a person (大) wearing a large sheep or ram's-head ornament, suggesting beauty through adornment. An alternative reading takes 羊 (sheep) over 大 (big) to mean 'a big, fat sheep'—seen as delicious and pleasing, hence 'beautiful, good'.