毋
Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word 毋. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word 毋, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say 毋 in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word 毋 you have here. The definition of the word 毋 will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of毋, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
| ||||||||
| ||||||||
Translingual
| Stroke order | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
Han character
毋 (Kangxi radical 80, 毋+0, 4 strokes, cangjie input 田十 (WJ), four-corner 77500, composition ⿻⿻𠃋𠃌𠂇(GHTV) or ⿻⿻𠃋𠃌十(JK))
- Kangxi radical #80, ⽏.
Derived characters
References
- Kangxi Dictionary: page 588, character 23
- Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 16721
- Dae Jaweon: page 980, character 29
- Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2380, character 1
- Unihan data for U+6BCB
Chinese
| simp. and trad. |
毋 | |
|---|---|---|
| alternative forms | 不 vernacular Hakka and Min Nan 唔 vernacular Hakka and Min Nan 伓 vernacular Min Nan 呣 vernacular Min Nan 嘸／呒 vernacular Min Nan | |
Glyph origin
| Historical forms of the character 毋 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Western Zhou | Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han) | Liushutong (compiled in Ming) |
| Bronze inscriptions | Small seal script | Transcribed ancient scripts |
|
|
|
| Old Chinese | |
|---|---|
| 脢 | *mɯːs, *mɯː, *mɯːs |
| 挴 | *mlɯːʔ, *mɯːʔ |
| 海 | *hmlɯːʔ |
| 毐 | *ʔmɯː, *ʔmɯːʔ |
| 呣 | *mɯ |
| 拇 | *mɯʔ |
| 母 | *mɯʔ |
| 胟 | *mɯʔ |
| 姆 | *mɯʔ, *mɯs, *maːʔ |
| 畮 | *mɯʔ |
| 踇 | *mɯʔ |
| 苺 | *mɯs, *mɯːʔ, *mɯːs |
| 莓 | *mɯs, *mɯː, *mɯːs |
| 敏 | *mrɯʔ, *mrɯŋʔ |
| 鰵 | *mrɯŋʔ |
| 慜 | *mrɯŋʔ |
| 毋 | *ma |
| 梅 | *mɯː |
| 酶 | *mɯː |
| 鋂 | *mɯː |
| 每 | *mɯːʔ |
| 毎 | *mɯːs |
| 痗 | *mɯːs, *hmɯːs |
| 晦 | *hmɯːs |
| 誨 | *hmɯːs |
| 悔 | *hmɯːʔ, *hmɯːs |
| 霉 | *mrɯl |
In the oracle bone script, 母 (“mother”) was borrowed to represent this character. It was later specialized to distinguish it from “mother”, replacing the two dots with one stroke.
Etymology
Cognate with 無 (OC *ma, “to not have”). Already in Zhou time, phonetically confused with and read like 無 (OC *ma).
Cognate with 唔 in Cantonese, Teochew and Hakka.
Pronunciation
- Mandarin
- Cantonese (Jyutping): mou4
- Hakka
- Eastern Min (BUC): ù
- Southern Min
- Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): 6wu
- Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)+
- Hanyu Pinyin:
- Zhuyin: ㄨˊ
- Tongyong Pinyin: wú
- Wade–Giles: wu2
- Yale: wú
- Gwoyeu Romatzyh: wu
- Palladius: у (u)
- Sinological IPA (key): /u³⁵/
- (Standard Chinese)+
- Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
- Jyutping: mou4
- Yale: mòuh
- Cantonese Pinyin: mou4
- Guangdong Romanization: mou4
- Sinological IPA (key): /mou̯²¹/
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
- Hakka
- (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
- Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: mù / m̀
- Hakka Romanization System: muˇ / mˇ
- Hagfa Pinyim: mu2 / m2
- Sinological IPA: /mu¹¹/, /m¹¹/
- (Hailu, incl. Zhudong)
- Hakka Romanization System: mu / m
- Sinological IPA: /mu⁵⁵/, /m⁵⁵/
- (Meixian)
- (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
Note:
- Sixian:
- mù - literary;
- m̀ - vernacular.
- Hailu:
- mu - literary;
- m - vernacular.
- Meixian:
- vu2 - literary;
- m2 - vernacular.
- Eastern Min
- (Fuzhou)
- Bàng-uâ-cê: ù
- Sinological IPA (key): /u⁵³/
- (Fuzhou)
- Southern Min
Note:
- bû - literary;
- m̄ - vernacular.
- Middle Chinese: mju
- Old Chinese
- (Baxter–Sagart): /*mo/
- (Zhengzhang): /*ma/
Definitions
毋
- (literary) do not, don't
- 宜未雨而綢繆，毋臨渴而掘井。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
- From: 朱子家訓 (The Familial Rules of Zhuzi)
- Yí wèi yǔ ér chóumóu, wú lín kě ér jué jǐng.
- It is proper to bind tightly when it is not yet raining. Do not dig a well when you are about to be thirsty. (I.e., one should prepare before it is too late. See 未雨綢繆／未雨绸缪 (wèiyǔchóumóu) and 臨渴掘井／临渴掘井 (línkějuéjǐng).)
宜未雨而绸缪，毋临渴而掘井。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
- (literary or Hakka, Hokkien) not
- 我毋捌字。 [Hokkien] ― Góa m̄ pat-lī. [Pe̍h-ōe-jī] ― I'm illiterate (literally: I don't know characters)
- (literary) Alternative form of 無 / 无 (“to not have”)
- a surname
Synonyms
Dialectal synonyms of 不 (“not”)
Compounds
- 不自由毋寧死 / 不自由毋宁死 (bù zìyóu wúnìng sǐ)
- 四毋
- 寧缺毋濫 / 宁缺毋滥 (nìngquēwúlàn)
- 將毋 / 将毋
- 少安毋躁
- 巨毋霸 (jùwúbà)
- 毋乃 (wúnǎi)
- 毋免 (m̄-bián)
- 毋寧 / 毋宁 (wúnìng)
- 毋庸 (wúyōng)
- 毋庸置疑 (wúyōngzhìyí)
- 毋得
- 毋忘在莒 (wúwàngzàijǔ)
- 毋才 (m̄-chiah)
- 毋是 (m̄ sī)
- 毋望之福
- 毋望之禍 / 毋望之祸
- 毋枉毋縱 / 毋枉毋纵
- 毋翼而飛 / 毋翼而飞
- 毋著 / 毋着 (m̀-chho̍k)
- 毋過 / 毋过 (m̄-kù)
- 毋須 / 毋须 (wúxū)
- 豬毋大，大對狗去 / 猪毋大，大对狗去 (ti m̄ tōa, tōa tùi káu khì)
References
- Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A02097
- “Entry #818”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2024.
Japanese
Kanji
毋
Readings
Usage notes
Not used in Japanese shinjitai in isolation – instead the unsimplified 母 is used – but simplified form is used universally in compound jōyō characters, such as 毎, 海.
However, not used in hyōgaiji, which are written in kyūjitai, such as 姆.
Korean
Hanja
毋 • (mu) (hangeul 무, revised mu, McCune–Reischauer mu, Yale mu)
- do not
- not
- surname
- rad. 80