mù
tree; wood
Meanings & readings
Meanings & dictionary uses
3 senses · 6 wordsTrees or woody vegetation. 木 commonly works within a larger word; it is not always the everyday standalone noun for a particular tree.
Wood as material and work involving it. The compound can identify a substance, an object, or a craft.
Lack of sensation or responsiveness in the word 麻木. A useful reminder that a compound’s meaning need not remain a literal tree image.
Languages & readings
Choose a recorded reading. Explore other varieties through their reference sources below.
Mandarin
Sense-linked readingsReadings & meanings
- mù — Trees or woody vegetation. 木 commonly works within a larger word; it is not always the everyday standalone noun for a particular tree.
- mù — Wood as material and work involving it. The compound can identify a substance, an object, or a craft.
- mù — Lack of sensation or responsiveness in the word 麻木. A useful reminder that a compound’s meaning need not remain a literal tree image.
Usage scope
Regional and word-specific qualifications remain attached to the sense and vocabulary records.
Cantonese
Selected character readingSource & reading limitations
Jyutping · Unihan 17.0.0
This property supplies a customary character reading for collation and transliteration. It does not list every reading or identify the reading for each word and sense. It also does not encode a separate regional label for each value.
Other Chinese languages & varieties
Reference guides · character readings not yet imported.
Taiwanese Hokkien 臺灣台語Reference sources only
The Ministry of Education dictionary is the reference for Taiwanese vocabulary and readings. Its Tâi-lô guide distinguishes citation tones from changes in connected speech. Other Hokkien varieties require their own sources.
- Reference variety
- Taiwanese Hokkien, with the regional distinctions recorded by Taiwan's Ministry of Education
- Notation
- Tâi-lô (臺羅), as used by the linked MOE dictionary
Hakka 客語Reference sources only
Taiwan's Ministry of Education documents six Hakka varieties separately. Choose the variety before comparing readings; a single undifferentiated Hakka pronunciation would hide meaningful differences.
- Reference variety
- Taiwan: Sixian, Hailu, Dapu, Raoping, Zhao'an and Southern Sixian
- Notation
- Taiwan Hakka Romanization System (臺灣客語拼音方案)
Teochew 潮州話／潮汕話Reference sources only
Explore CUHK's published Chaozhou lexicon and its separate Shantou sound table. These reference locations remain explicit: readings from one locality should not stand in for every Teochew variety.
- Reference variety
- Chaozhou lexicon; separate Shantou syllable-table resource
- Notation
- Source phonetic transcription; no shared local romanization imported
Wu 吳語・上海話Reference sources only
The linked university resource documents Shanghai. Wu also includes other local varieties; Shanghai readings should retain that location label when compared with Mandarin or Cantonese.
- Reference variety
- Shanghai
- Notation
- Phonetic transcription and tone values in the linked CUHK table
Eastern Min 閩東語・福州話Reference sources only
Fuzhou is an Eastern Min reference variety. Its dedicated CUHK sound table offers a starting point; other Eastern Min localities need distinct records and source attribution.
- Reference variety
- Fuzhou
- Notation
- Phonetic transcription and tone values in the linked CUHK table
Gan 贛語・南昌話Reference sources only
Begin with CUHK's Nanchang sound table. The broader Gan group contains local differences, so future readings should identify Nanchang or another documented locality explicitly.
- Reference variety
- Nanchang
- Notation
- Phonetic transcription and tone values in the linked CUHK table
Xiang 湘語・長沙話Reference sources only
Begin with CUHK's Changsha sound table. Keep Changsha separate from other Xiang localities when adding readings; the group name does not denote one uniform pronunciation.
- Reference variety
- Changsha
- Notation
- Phonetic transcription and tone values in the linked CUHK table
Readings in Japanese, Korean & Vietnamese
Readings recorded for 木 in other language traditions. These are character-level records, not word translations or interchangeable pronunciations.
Japanese 日本語
Grouped by the source’s kana notation; no frequency ranking is implied.
On’yomi · katakana
Kun’yomi · hiragana
Katakana generally indicates on’yomi; hiragana generally indicates kun’yomi. The source does not identify everyday, rare, historical or name use per reading. Kana strings are preserved, including any written endings; consult a Japanese word entry for actual use.
Go deeperJisho ↗Wiktionary ↗
Korean 한국어
Hanja readings · Hangul
Source codes are separated below. They are neither sounds nor tones; a character reading alone does not specify a whole word’s pronunciation.
Go deeperNaver Hanja ↗Wiktionary ↗
Reading sources explained
- 목
- KS X 1001 (0) · Educational Hanja (E)
Vietnamese Tiếng Việt
Character readings · Quốc ngữ
Vietnamese readings associated with this Han character. This field alone does not establish word meanings, current usage, or a complete account of Hán-Nôm reading traditions.
Go deeperHán Việt (Thi Viện) ↗Wiktionary ↗
Form & structure
Structure & components
0 direct parts- Layout
- single
- Index radical
- 木 · 75 · 0 residual strokes
For this portrait 木 is a single whole component, with a central upright stroke, a cross-stroke, and two spreading lower strokes. Compare it with 本 and 末 by looking for the added or lengthened horizontal stroke. Those visual comparisons are useful modern analysis; they should not be turned into unsourced stories about how all related characters arose.
Follow the recorded parts
recorded boundaryA boundary means no finer analysis is published here; it does not assert an indivisible unit. Radical classification and component structure are separate.
Inspect the component network ↗Writing
4 strokesModern stroke order; regional conventions can differ. [47]
Words & connections
Examples
2 sentences這張桌子是木頭做的。
这张桌子是木头做的。
This table is made of wood.
木材放在屋裡。
木材放在屋里。
The timber is kept inside the house.
Original editorial sentences. Pinyin uses dictionary tones; connected speech may differ.
Connections
0 phonetic neighboursThis pilot does not link this character to a sound (phonetic) family. Explore the other recorded relationships below.
Follow this component
Reverse links to attributed component analyses. Open each character for its role, source and words. Shared components do not establish word ancestry.
History & distinctions
Etymology & evidence
2 accountsA whole tree
CUHK reads oracle-bone and bronze 木 as a tree with branches and roots. It explicitly challenges the idea that the graph was historically assembled from 屮 plus another part merely because those modern or transmitted shapes resemble one another. The account supports treating 木 as a whole pictorial graph.
Uses beyond a picture
The entry cites early uses for trees and also for names of places or groups. A graph with a pictorial starting point can function in a writing system far beyond labeling the object it once depicted.
Reading this character · explanatory note
木 links a living tree with the material obtained from trees. Modern words make the distinction clearer: 樹木 / 树木 refers to trees, while 木材 is wood as material and 木匠 a carpenter. CUHK interprets early 木 as a whole tree, with branches above and roots below. That historical interpretation is different from splitting the modern strokes into unrelated smaller characters. 木 is also useful for exploring larger forms such as 林 and 森. Their repeated shape is visible immediately; their individual histories still deserve their own source-backed accounts.
Historical specimens remain at their sources. No dated attestation sequence or licensed specimen image is claimed.
Inspect CUHK’s forms and discussion ↗Forms & distinctions
木 is shared by traditional and simplified writing. Some common words containing it change elsewhere, including 樹木 / 树木 and 木頭 / 木头. Recognition of 木 is therefore useful across both writing systems. The shapes shown in the modern comparison are printed characters, not replicas of ancient inscriptions.
本 běn includes a short added horizontal stroke near the bottom of 木. It is a separate character, including in 本子, notebook.
Both have an extra horizontal line. 未 wèi and 末 mò are distinguished by the relative lengths and positions of their upper horizontal strokes; neither is simply another spelling of 木.
Historical readings
- Middle Chinese
- muwk · 莫卜 反切 · #3197
Guangyun-based transcriptions · PHONO-ML · CC BY 4.0. These describe historical reading categories, not modern word pronunciation.
Source row & reading categories
CSV line 16328 · muwk = 通開一入東明
Automatically generated in the source dataset; the authors checked a subset and acknowledge possible errors. All source readings are retained separately. Notation & method ↗
Sources & reference
Sources & research
4 sourcesLocator & rights
形義通解, 略說 and 詳解; character entry · link_only · 2026-10-12
Locator & rights
Release 2026-10-12T08:13:53Z. Exact word-reading locators are retained with each WordRecord. · permitted · 2026-10-12
Locator & rights
17.0.0 · permitted · 2026-10-12
Locator & rights
bddc96d41bef78427ed0e034e9f7e31d71fd1b92 · permitted · 2026-10-12
Open research · 1 items
- Historical specimen images and their item-level dating have not been licensed or independently checked; follow the source link to inspect its evidence.
Cited claims compared with the consulted entries; no independent expert review recorded.
Readings across dictionaries
- Hanyu Da Zidian
- mù 21149.060
- Xiandai Hanyu · 1983
- mù 0807.010
- Tongyong Guifan · 2013
- mù 258.120
- Reading counts · XDHYPLCD
- mù(415)
- Mandarin / Cantonese · SMSZD
- mù粵muk6