牧

Mandarin · pinyin mù#

Meanings · mù

  1. to herd
  2. to breed livestock
  3. to govern (old)
  4. government official (old)
Mandarin · pinyin Mù#

Meanings · Mù

  1. surname Mu
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Characters in this entry

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 Rime · Wiktionary

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

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

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

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