冒 is also the simplified spelling of 冐.

冒

Mandarin · pinyin mào#

Meanings · mào

  1. to emit; to give off; to send out (or up, forth)
  2. to brave; to face
  3. (bound form) reckless
  4. to falsely adopt (sb's identity etc); to feign
  5. (literary) to cover
Mandarin · pinyin Mào#

Meanings · Mào

  1. surname Mao
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Characters in this entry

冒
mào · risk, brave, dare
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4 · mao4

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1character link37same-tone records
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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Compare dictionary sources Rime · Wiktionary

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

mak6 · mou6

Cantonese word readings for 冒. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

character · Etymology 1

  1. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) to cover
  2. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) cloth used to dress a corpse; sack for corpses
  3. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) to wear a hat
  4. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) original form of 帽 (mào, “hat”)
  5. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) to pretend to be
  6. to risk; to brave; to face
  7. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) bold; thoughtless; boldly
  8. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) to encroach on; to violate
  9. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) to receive; to suffer from
  10. to emit; to give off; to send out
  11. (Mandarin) to appear; to emerge
  12. (dialectal Mandarin, of water) to boil
  13. (dialectal Mandarin, Wu) to vomit or to have diarrhoea
  14. (dialectal Mandarin) to cover rice or noodles with vegetables and meat; to put broth over noodles or rice
  15. (alt-of, alternative) alternative form of 冇 (“to not have”)
  16. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) Substitute character for 懋 (mào, “to encourage”).
  17. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) Substitute character for 芼 (mào, “name of a vegetable”).
  18. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) original form of 瑁 (mào, “ceremonial jade”)

character · Etymology 2

  1. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) original form of 媢 (mào, “to envy”)
  2. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) to be greedy for; covetous

character · Etymology 3

  1. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) only used in 瑇冒 and 毒冒, both are alternative forms of 玳瑁 (dàimào)

character · Etymology 5

  1. only used in 冒頓/冒顿 (Mòdú, “name of a Xiongnu chieftain”)

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

冒 · mao4 · Mao4
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source lines 12,409, 12,408
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source records冒 冒 [mao4] /to emit; to give off; to send out (or up, forth)/to brave; to face/(bound form) reckless/to falsely adopt (sb's identity etc); to feign/(literary) to cover/冒 冒 [Mao4] /surname Mao/