毋
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Translingual
| Stroke order | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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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 |
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| 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 (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