毛 (máo): hair, feather, down

毛 (máo) is a Chinese character meaning “hair.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 乇 (structural) and 一 (structural). It ranks #623 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. hair
  2. feather
  3. down

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 毛

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
毛病nounmáo bìngfault5
毛巾nounmáo jīntowel4
毛衣nounmáo yī(wool) sweater4
眉毛nounméi maoeyebrow6
羽毛球nounyǔ máo qiúbadminton3
毛笔nounmáo bǐwriting brush5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
羽毛nounyǔ máofeather
毛发nounmáo fàhair
睫毛nounjié máoeyelashes
毛茸茸máo róng rónghairy
毛毛nounmáo mao(pet name for a baby or small child)
羊毛nounyáng máowool
毛毯nounmáo tǎnblanket
毛皮nounmáo pífur
皮毛nounpí máofur
毛毛虫máo mao chóngcaterpillar
出毛病chū máo bìnga problem appears
汗毛nounhàn máohair
脱毛verbtuō máoto lose hair or feathers
毛线nounmáo xiànknitting wool
毛孔nounmáo kǒngpore
105
Total compounds
51
As first character
45
As last character
4
As middle character

毛 appears in 105 compound words: 51 as the first character, 45 as the last, and 4 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 毛 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

泽zé
0.69831,570 co-occurrences
羽yǔ
0.66038,964 co-occurrences
绒róng
0.5721,825 co-occurrences
巾jīn
0.5562,050 co-occurrences
东dōng
0.51831,562 co-occurrences
球qiú
0.46326,680 co-occurrences
眉méi
0.4611,654 co-occurrences
羊yáng
0.4594,594 co-occurrences
皮pí
0.4526,748 co-occurrences
鞭biān
0.4511,106 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (19)

爱惜羽毛àixīyǔmáoHSK 4+

to cherish one's reputation

phrase
拔毛连茹bá máo lián rú

variant of 拔茅連茹|拔茅连茹

phrase
不毛之地bùmáozhīdìHSK 4+

barren land; desert

phrase
吹毛求疵chuīmáoqiúcīHSK 7+

to nitpick; to pick holes; to cavel at

phrase
凤毛麟角fèngmáo línjiǎoHSK 7+

rarity of rarities; rare treasures or talents; things that are few and far between

phrase
黄毛丫头huángmáo yātouHSK 7+

young, inexperienced girl

noun
火烧眉毛huǒshāoméimáoHSK 6+

to be extremely urgent

phrase
鸡毛蒜皮jīmáosuànpíHSK 7+

trivial matters

phrase
九牛一毛jiǔniúyīmáoHSK 3+

a drop in the bucket

phrase
略知皮毛lüè zhī pí máoHSK 6+

slight knowledge of sth; superficial acquaintance with a subject; a smattering

phrase
毛遂自荐máosuìzìjiànHSK 7+

to recommend oneself; to put oneself up for a task; to nominate oneself; to volunteer; to offer one's services

phrase
轻于鸿毛qīngyúhóngmáo

to be worthless (or trashy, valueless, not worth a brass farthing, good for nothing, of no worth)

phrase

Showing 12 of 19 idioms containing 毛.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

老师教我们毛字的发音和笔顺。

lǎo shī jiào wǒ men máo zì de fā yīn hé bǐ shùn .

The teacher taught us the pronunciation and stroke order of Mao's characters.

Hk01.comFeb 2026

陌生人闯入金毛会点反应?实测结果超意外 全网暖男非浪得...

mò shēng rén chuǎng rù jīn máo huì diǎn fǎn yīng ? shí cè jié guǒ chāo yì wài quán wǎng nuǎn nán fēi làng dé . . .

How do strangers react when they break into a golden retriever? The measured results are super unexpected, and the whole network is warm and male...

Nownews今日新聞Feb 2026

男粉买1条应援毛巾“3个人用”!边荷律翻白眼粉笑疯:自己...

nán fěn mǎi 1 tiáo yīng yuán máo jīn 3 gè rén yòng ! biān hé lǜ fān bái yǎn fěn xiào fēng : zì jǐ . . .

Male fans buy 1 support towel "for 3 people"! Bian Helu rolled his eyes and laughed crazy: himself...

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

健康主题馆/长者肌少症 拧不干毛巾是警讯

jiàn kāng zhǔ tí guǎn cháng zhě jī shǎo zhèng níng bù gān máo jīn shì jǐng xùn

Health Theme Hall/Sarcopenia in the Elderly Unable to wring out the towel is a warning sign

Investing 香港Feb 2026

...ity Chic上半财年获利飙升86%,毛利率大幅提升

. . . i t y C h i c shàng bàn cái nián huò lì biāo shēng 8 6 , máo lì lǜ dà fú tí shēng

... ity Chic's profit soared 86% in the first half of the fiscal year, and gross margin increased significantly

LtnFeb 2026

...理陈佩琪酸“单身狗” 赖清德合体小英再晒毛小孩

. . . lǐ chén pèi 琪 suān dān shēn gǒu lài qīng dé gě tǐ xiǎo yīng zài shài máo xiǎo hái

... Li Chen Peiqi sour "single dog" Lai Qingde combined Xiaoying to dry the furry child again

Tatoeba

你觉得这件毛衣怎么样?

Nǐ juéde zhè jiàn máoyī zěnmeyàng?

What do you think of this sweater?

Tatoeba

你觉得胸毛是性感的吗?

Nǐ juéde xiōng máo shì xìnggǎn de ma?

Do you think that chest hair is sexy?

Tatoeba

我的腿有什么毛病?

Wǒ de tuǐ yǒu shénme máobìng?

What's wrong with my legs?

Tatoeba

那是你昨天买的毛衣吗?

Nàshi nǐ zuótiān mǎi de máoyī ma?

Is that the sweater you bought yesterday?

Character Family

毛 Radical Family — Characters sharing the fur radical

Related Characters

Homophones — Characters pronounced máo

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 毛 (máo) mean in Chinese?
毛 (máo) primarily means "hair." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #623 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 毛 and 设?
毛 (máo) and 设 (shè) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 毛 (down) vs 设 (up).
How many strokes does 毛 have?
毛 is written with 4 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 毛?
The radical associated with 毛 is 毛 (fur). This radical appears in many characters related to fur.
What are the components of 毛?
毛 is composed of: 乇 (structural), 一 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿻乇一 with a overlay layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 毛?
Common words with 毛 include: 毛病 (máo bìng, "fault"); 毛巾 (máo jīn, "towel"); 毛衣 (máo yī, "(wool) sweater"); 眉毛 (méi mao, "eyebrow"); 羽毛 (yǔ máo, "feather"). There are over 105 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 毛 (máo)?
Several characters share the pronunciation máo: 冒 (to emit), 贸 (trade), 貌 ((bound form) appearance), 猫 (cat), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 毛 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 毛 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 毛 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken 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.