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摸索

Mandarin · pinyin mō suo

to feel about
to grope about
to fumble
to do things slowly

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Characters in this entry

摸: mō · gently touch with hand; caress
索: suǒ · large rope, cable; rules, laws; to demand, to exact; to search, inquire; isolated

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

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Mandarin tones

1–5 · mo1 suo5

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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 · 2 senses · 2 Cantonese readings

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

mo2 saak3 · mo2 sok3

Cantonese word readings for 摸索. 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.

verb

to grope; to feel about; to fumble; to fiddle
to try to find

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

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