母

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母

Translingual

Stroke order

Stroke order

Han character

母 (Kangxi radical 80, 毋+1, 5 strokes, cangjie input 田卜戈 (WYI), four-corner 7750₀, composition ⿻⿻𠃋𠃌⿻⺀一)

Derived characters

• Appendix:Chinese radical/毋
• 㑄, 呣, 坶, 姆, 𡥓, 㟂, 𢘃, 拇, 𣳠, 𤝕, 乸, 栂, 𣭇, 牳, 𭹃, 胟, 𤵝, 𥎳, 砪, 䍭, 𧉯, 𧰷, 𧿹, 𨈶, 𨱱, 鉧(𬭁), 𩶋
• 㝀, 𨾥, 䳇, 𠰔, 𡥘, 𢘓, 袰, 𧦥, 貫, 𡴋, 苺, 𣳗, 𤯟, 𦊏, 𭑐, 𥬦, 𬙰, 𫕢, 𣚺, 㺙

Related characters

• 毋 (See glyph origin)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 588, character 25
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 16723
• Dae Jaweon: page 980, character 32
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2380, character 3
• Unihan data for U+6BCD

Further reading

• 母 on Wikidata.Wikidata

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 母
Shang	Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Pictogram (象形) : a woman with breasts with nipples kneeling or standing. In modern form turned on left side. Compare 女 (OC *naʔ, *nas, “woman”), which has developed similarly, but does not include dots for nipples and has lost one breast in the modern form.

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *mow (“woman, female”).

Pronunciation

Definitions

母

1. mother

   Antonym: 父

   父母  ―  fùmǔ  ―  father and mother

   母子  ―  mǔzǐ  ―  mother and son

2. Used to address a female elder member of a family.

   Antonym: 父

   姑母  ―  gūmǔ  ―  father's sister

   祖母  ―  zǔmǔ  ―  grandmother

3. (of animal) female

   Synonym: 雌 (cí)

   Antonym: 公 (gōng)

   母牛  ―  mǔniú  ―  female cow

4. (figuratively, of instruments, tools, or connectors) female
5. pertaining to origin

   母校  ―  mǔxiào  ―  alma mater

6. a surname

Synonyms

Compounds

Descendants

References

• “母”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A02098

Japanese

Kanji

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

• Go-on: む (mu); も (mo)
• Kan-on: ぼう (bō)
• Kan’yō-on: ぼ (bo, Jōyō)
• Kun: はは (haha, 母, Jōyō)^{←はは (fafa, 母, historical)}; はわ (hawa, 母)^{←はは (fafa, 母, historical)}; は (ha, 母); あも (amo, 母); おも (omo, 母); かか (kaka, 母); かあ (kā, 母)

Compounds

Usage notes

In isolation, the character 母 has 5 strokes in modern Japanese – it is not simplified. In shinjitai compound characters, such as 毎 or 海, it is simplified to 4 strokes, as 毋. In hyōgaiji characters such as 姆, however, the component is not simplified.

Alternative forms

• 嚊, 嬶

Etymology 1

From Old Japanese.

/haha/: */papa/ → /fafa/ → /fawa/ → /fafa/ → /haha/.

Medial /f/ regularly changes to /w/ , resulting in /fawa/ → /hawa/, the expected final form; see hawa below. This form first appears in the Heian period. However, likely due to spelling influence or reduplication associations, the earlier /fafa/ resurfaced in the late 16th century towards the end of the Muromachi period, with both forms seen until recent times, when hawa falls into disuse. Initial /f-/ regularly becomes , resulting in modern .

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) は​は (Atamadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

母(はは) • (haha) ^{←はは (fafa)?}

1. mother

   織(お)田(だ)信(のぶ)長(なが)の母(はは)は謎(なぞ)が多(おお)い。

   Oda Nobunaga no haha wa nazo ga ōi.

   Oda Nobunaga's mother was a mysterious woman.

   • 938, Minamoto no Shitagō, Wamyō Ruijushō, volume 1, page 116:

     母 尔雅云、母爲妣、卑履反、去聲之重、和名波々、日本紀私記云、以路波

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1603–1604, Nippo Jisho, page 196:

     Fafa. l, faua. ハハ. または、ハワ(母) 母.

     Fafa. l, faua. ハハ. または、ハワ(母) 母.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Usage notes

• This term conveys neither positive nor negative connotations. However, using it to describe someone the speaker knows personally is often considered lacking respect, where more polite forms like お母(かあ)さん (okāsan) are preferred.
• This term is sometimes used in objective narrations, but for this purpose, 母(はは)親(おや) (hahaoya) is more common.

Coordinate terms

• 父(ちち) (chichi, “father”)

Derived terms