母

Mandarin · pinyin mǔ

Meanings

  1. mother
  2. elderly female relative
  3. origin
  4. source
  5. (of animals) female
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Characters in this entry

母
mǔ · mother; female elders; female
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3 · mu3

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1character link20same-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 Wiktionary · 6 senses · 2 Cantonese readings

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

mau4 · mou5

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

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

character

  1. mother
  2. Used to address a female elder member of a family.
  3. (of animal) female
  4. (figuratively, of instruments, tools, or connectors) female
  5. pertaining to origin
  6. a surname

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

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