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牧

Mandarin · pinyin mù#

to herd
to breed livestock
to govern (old)
government official (old)

Mandarin · pinyin Mù#

surname Mu

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牧: mù · tend cattle, shepherd

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4 · mu4

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1character link35same-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 · 8 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

muk6

Cantonese word readings for 牧. 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

to herd; to tend; to breed livestock
herdsman; herder; shepherd
(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) to govern; to rule
(historical) overlord; ruler (of one of the nine ancient city states in China)
(abbreviation, alt-of) short for 畜牧業／畜牧业 (xùmùyè, “animal husbandry”)
(Christianity) pastor
(Eastern Min) to heal; to cure
a surname

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

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