(): to observe, to see

() is a Chinese character meaning “to observe.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2464 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, eye. Its radical form (eye) appears in many related characters such as (kàn, to look, to see), (zhēn, really), (zhe, -ing, to wear).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to observe
  2. to see

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticeye

Decomposition: ⿰目者 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

Practice writing with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
mù dǔto witness
qīn yǎn mù dǔto see for oneself
cǎn bù rěn dǔlit. so horrible that one cannot bear to look (idiom)
shú shì wú dǔ(idiom) to turn a blind eye to (sth one sees regularly)
shì ruò wú dǔto turn a blind eye to
yǒu mù gòng dǔanyone with eyes can see it (idiom)
xiān dǔ wéi kuài(idiom) to consider it a pleasure to be among the first to read (or watch or enjoy)
ěr wén mù dǔto witness personally
èr shí nián mù dǔ zhī guài xiàn zhuàngThe Strange State of the World Witnessed Over 20 Years, novel by late Qing novelist Wu Jianren 吳趼人|吴趼人[Wu2 Jian3 ren2]
chóng dǔ tiān rìto see the light again (idiom)
yǒu mù wú dǔhas eyes but can't see (idiom)
dǔ wù sī rén(idiom) to fondly remember a person on seeing sth one associates with them
zuò shì wú dǔto turn a blind eye to
yī dǔto look
14
Total compounds
7
As first character
71
As last character
21
As middle character

appears in 14 compound words: 7 as the first character, 71 as the last, and 21 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

0.58342,031 co-occurrences
yǎn
0.5236,072 co-occurrences
cǎn
0.452486 co-occurrences
rěn
0.4491,380 co-occurrences
qīn
0.4262,454 co-occurrences
le
0.3629,486 co-occurrences
ruò
0.328816 co-occurrences
0.3231,440 co-occurrences
qiē
0.317690 co-occurrences
guā
0.31142 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (9)

cǎnbùrěndǔHSK 7+

to be too horrible to look at

phrase
dǔwùsīrénHSK 7+

seeing things left behind by someone or the belongings of the deceased triggers one's memories of that person

phrase
ěrwénmùdǔHSK 7+

to hear with one's ears and see with one's eyes; to personally see and hear

phrase
qīnyǎnmùdǔHSK 7+

to see with one's own eyes

phrase
shìruòwúdǔHSK 7+

to turn a blind eye

phrase
shúshìwúdǔHSK 7+

to turn a blind eye to; to pay no attention to a familiar sight

phrase
xiāndǔwéikuàiHSK 7+

to be the first to witness something and regard such action as a pleasure

phrase
yǒumùgòngdǔHSK 7+

to be obvious to all

phrase
chóng dǔ tiān rìHSK 7+

to see the light again (idiom); delivered from oppression

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个字在古汉语中有不同的含义。

zhè gě dǔ zì zài gǔ hàn yǔ zhōng yǒu bù tóng de hán yì .

The character "睹" had different meanings in classical Chinese.

EttodayApr 2026

...齐聚马来西亚 自掏腰包400万两天万人争

. . . qí jù mǎ lái xī yà zì tāo yāo bāo 4 0 0 wàn liǎng tiān wàn rén zhēng dǔ

三立新聞網Mar 2026

警匪追逐险撞店 板娘目拔枪吓喊要收惊

jǐng fěi zhuī zhú xiǎn zhuàng diàn bǎn niáng mù dǔ bá qiāng hè hǎn yāo shōu jīng

Police-Criminal Chase Nearly Crashes Into Store; Shop Owner Witnesses Gun Draw, Screams in Terror and Asks for a Ritual to Ward Off Evil Spirits

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

台中色阿公手伸进7岁孙女内裤 媳妇惊直言“恶心”下场判3年半

tái zhōng sè ā gōng shǒu shēn jìn 7 suì sūn nǚ nèi kù xí fù jīng dǔ zhí yán è xīn xià chǎng pàn 3 nián bàn

Taichung's lustful grandfather reached into his 7-year-old granddaughter's underwear, and his daughter-in-law was shocked to see that he was "disgusting" and was sentenced to 3 and a half years

東方日報Feb 2026

父亲儿子从阳台堕下 伸手成功接住

fù qīn dǔ ér zǐ cóng yáng tái duò xià shēn shǒu chéng gōng jiē zhù

The father saw his son fall from the balcony and reached out to catch it

Tatoeba

我不忍目这种残酷的行径。

Wǒ bù rěn mùdǔ zhèzhǒng cánkù de xíngjìng.

I cannot abide to see such cruelty.

Tatoeba

她目爱犬在意外中离世,不禁泪如泉涌。

Tā mùdǔ àiquǎn zàiyì wài zhōng líshì, bù jìn lèi rú quányǒng.

She shed plentiful tears when her beloved dog was killed in an accident.

Tatoeba

说起交通事故,我去年目了一场。

Shuōqǐ jiāotōng shìgù, wǒ qùnián mùdǔ le yī chǎng.

Speaking of traffic accidents, I saw one last year.

Tatoeba

所目的不一定是真的。

Suǒ mùdǔ de bù yīdìng shì zhēn de.

Things that you see with your eyes are not necessarily true.

Tatoeba

只有没目那场战争的人才喜欢它。

Zhǐ yǒu méi mùdǔ nà chǎng zhànzhēng de réncái xǐhuan tā.

The war is liked by only those who haven't seen it.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 睹 (dǔ) mean in Chinese?
睹 (dǔ) primarily means "to observe." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2464 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 睹 and 煮?
睹 (dǔ) and 煮 (zhǔ) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 目 vs 灬 (same 者 component).
How many strokes does 睹 have?
睹 is written with 14 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 睹?
The radical associated with 睹 is 目 (eye). This radical appears in many characters related to eye.
What are the components of 睹?
睹 is composed of: 目 (semantic), 者 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰目者 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 睹?
Common words with 睹 include: 目睹 (mù dǔ, "to witness"); 亲眼目睹 (qīn yǎn mù dǔ, "to see for oneself"); 惨不忍睹 (cǎn bù rěn dǔ, "lit. so horrible that one cannot bear to look (idiom)"); 熟视无睹 (shú shì wú dǔ, "(idiom) to turn a blind eye to (sth one sees regularly)"); 视若无睹 (shì ruò wú dǔ, "to turn a blind eye to"). There are over 14 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 睹 (dǔ)?
Several characters share the pronunciation dǔ: 堵 (to block up (a road, pipe etc)), 赌 (to bet). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 睹 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 睹 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.