冒 (mào): to emit, to give off, to send out (or up, forth), to brave, to face, (bound form) reckless
冒 (mào) is a Chinese character meaning “to emit.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 日 (structural) and 目 (semantic). It ranks #1217 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 冒 is a compound character. Its radical form 冂 (wide) appears in many related characters such as 再 (zài, again), 最 (zuì, (before an adjective or verb) to the highest degree), 内 (nèi, inside).
Definitions
- to emit
- to give off
- to send out (or up, forth)
- to brave
- to face
- (bound form) reckless
Etymology & Origin
pictophoneticThis character is a compound form.
Decomposition: ⿱日目 (layout: top-bottom)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 冒 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 冒
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 冒犯 | mào fàn | to offend |
| 冒昧 | mào mèi | bold |
| 冒充 | mào chōng | to feign |
| 冒烟 | mào yān | to discharge smoke |
| 假冒 | jiǎ mào | to impersonate |
| 冒牌货 | mào pái huò | fake goods |
| 冒牌 | mào pái | fake |
| 感冒药 | gǎn mào yào | medicine for colds |
| 冒险家 | mào xiǎn jiā | adventurer |
| 冒失 | mào shi | rash |
| 冒名顶替 | mào míng dǐng tì | to assume sb's name and take his place (idiom) |
| 仿冒 | fǎng mào | to counterfeit |
| 眼冒金星 | yǎn mào jīn xīng | to see stars |
| 火冒三丈 | huǒ mào sān zhàng | to get really angry |
| 冒失鬼 | mào shi guǐ | reckless person |
冒 appears in 52 compound words: 67 as the first character, 13 as the last, and 19 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 冒 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (7)
fake, forged, counterfeit and poor-quality; counterfeit and shoddy (generally speaking)
Example Sentences
这个冒字的意思与它的部首有关。
zhè gě mào zì de yì sī yú tā de bù shǒu yǒu guān .
The meaning of the character "冒" is related to its radical.
...杜拜棕榈岛酒店疑被飞弹碎片击中 入口起火冒浓烟・有片
. . . dù bài zōng 榈 dǎo jiǔ diàn yí bèi fēi dàn suì piàn jī zhōng rù kǒu qǐ huǒ mào nóng yān yǒu piàn
... The Palm Dubai Hotel is suspected to have been hit by missile fragments, and the entrance is on fire and smoke is emitted
调皮!高职生拿起子拆行动电源 冒烟起火吓坏
diào pí ! gāo zhí shēng ná qǐ zǐ chāi háng dòng diàn yuán mào yān qǐ huǒ hè huài
Naughty! Higher vocational students picked up the sub-dismantling power bank and were frightened by smoke and fire
又是冒充银行的电话,奥克兰老人被骗1.5万纽币...
yòu shì mào chōng yín háng de diàn huà , ào kè lán lǎo rén bèi piàn 1 . 5 wàn niǔ bì . . .
It was another phone call pretending to be a bank, and the old man in Auckland was defrauded of 15,000 New Zealand dollars...
...炮当糖果!母亲才转身几秒 广东女童“口中冒火烟”爆哭
. . . pào dāng táng guǒ ! mǔ qīn cái zhuǎn shēn jī miǎo guǎng dōng nǚ tóng kǒu zhōng mào huǒ yān bào kū
... Candy! The mother turned around for a few seconds, and the Guangdong girl burst into tears with "fire and smoke coming out of her mouth"
抗癌神器来了!台中女骶骨冒罕见巨型瘤 3个月神速缩小
kàng ái shén qì lái le ! tái zhōng nǚ 骶 gǔ mào hǎn jiàn jù xíng liú 3 gè yuè shén sù suō xiǎo
The anti-cancer artifact is here! Taichung female sacrum suffered a rare giant tumor and shrank rapidly in 3 months
烟从烟囱里冒了出来。
Yān cóng yāncōng lǐ mào le chūlái.
The smoke went upward through the chimney.
我患上了严重的感冒。
Wǒ huàn shàng le yánzhòng de gǎnmào.
I'm suffering from a bad cold.
你看,那边正在冒烟,那栋大厦一定是失火了。
Nǐ kàn, nàbian zhèngzài màoyān, nà dòng dàshà yīdìng shì shīhuǒ le.
Look at that smoke. That building must be on fire.
他冒着生命危险救了我的命。
Tā màozhe shēngmìng wēixiǎn jiù le wǒ de mìng.
He saved my life at the risk of his own.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 冒 (mào) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 冒 and 接?
How many strokes does 冒 have?
What is the radical of 冒?
What are the components of 冒?
What are common words containing 冒?
What characters sound the same as 冒 (mào)?
Is 冒 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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