Language/Mandarin-chinese/Vocabulary/母-mŭ-mother

母 mŭ mother; female - Mandarin Chinese

Definition

The character 母 is itself both a radical and a phonetic. 母 was derived from 女 nǚ , which is a picture of two breasts, to which two nipples have been added to create the character for “mother” 母. The character 母 occurs in various other characters as a phonetic, e.g., in the character 拇 mŭ, which is used in the word 大拇指 dàmŭzhĭ “thumb.” Distinguish 母 from 每 mĕi and 海 hăi .

Examples

父母 fùmŭ parents [N]

师母 (師母) shīmŭ wife of one’s teacher [N]

Sources

Book: Intermediate Written Chinese by Cornelius C. Kubler

Other Lessons

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