Miao
/miˈaʊ/noun
A collective name for several related Indigenous peoples of southern China and Southeast Asia, including groups often known as Hmong.
Did you know?Miao is an English rendering of Chinese 苗, meaning “young plant” or “seedling,” but many communities covered by the term have their own distinct names and prefer them in specific contexts.
Etymological Timeline
Old Chinese, c. 1st millennium BCE
Old Chinese
苗 (*mˤew)
“A seedling, young plant, or crop sprout”
Early Imperial Chinese
Classical Chinese
苗 (miáo)
“A young plant; by extension, a lineage or group associated with an ancestral branch”
Middle Chinese, c. 7th–10th century
Middle Chinese
苗 (mjew)
“Seedling or sprout; also used in names for non-Han peoples of southern regions”
Modern Chinese
Mandarin
苗 (Miáo)
“Miao; the Chinese ethnonym, alongside its literal sense of seedling”
19th–20th century
English
Miao
“An English ethnonym for several related peoples of southern China and mainland Southeast Asia”