(mào): luxuriant, (chemistry) cyclopentadiene

(mào) is a Chinese character meaning “luxuriant.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2245 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, grass. Its radical form (grass) appears in many related characters such as (huā, flower), (chá, tea), (cài, vegetable, dish).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. luxuriant
  2. (chemistry) cyclopentadiene

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticgrass

Decomposition: ⿱艹戊 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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
mào shènglush
mào mìdense (of plant growth)
fēng huá zhèng màoin one's prime
fán mào(of vegetation) lush
shēng qíng bìng mào(of a singer etc) excellent in voice and expression (idiom)
zhī fán yè mào(of plants) to grow luxuriantly
dá ěr hǎn mào míng ān lián hé qíDarhan Muming'an united banner in Baotou 包頭|包头[Bao1 tou2], Inner Mongolia
bā ěr duō lù màoBartholomew
mào míng shìMaoming, prefecture-level city in Guangdong Province 廣東省|广东省[Guang3 dong1 Sheng3]
gēn shēn yè màodeep roots and vigorous foliage (idiom)
mào nán qūMaonan, a district of Maoming City 茂名市[Mao4 ming2 Shi4], Guangdong
lǐ chóng màoLi Chongmao, personal name of fifth Tang emperor Shang 唐殤帝|唐殇帝[Tang2 Shang1 Di4] (c. 695-715), reigned 710
jīn mào dà shàJin Mao Tower, skyscraper in Shanghai
mào wùBogor (city in West Java)
mào míngsee 茂名市[Mao4 ming2 Shi4]
23
Total compounds
48
As first character
35
As last character
17
As middle character

appears in 23 compound words: 48 as the first character, 35 as the last, and 17 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.

chén
0.68722 co-occurrences
0.61432 co-occurrences
àn
0.54125 co-occurrences
píng
0.5337,724 co-occurrences
suàn
0.52421 co-occurrences
zhēn
0.4852,958 co-occurrences
0.43312,378 co-occurrences
xiù
0.4319,014 co-occurrences
shèng
0.4155,419 co-occurrences
0.4154,506 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (4)

fēnghuázhèngmàoHSK 7+

in one's prime

phrase
gēn shēn yè màoHSK 7+

deep roots and vigorous foliage (idiom); (fig.) well established and growing strongly

phrase
shēngqíngbìngmàoHSK 7+

excellent in both voice and the expression of emotions

phrase
zhīfányèmàoHSK 7+

to thrive; to prosper

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

写好字需要掌握正确的笔画顺序。

xiě hǎo mào zì xū yāo zhǎng wò zhēng què de bǐ huà shùn xù .

To write the character "茂" correctly, you need to master the proper stroke order.

Independent MediaFeb 2026

【财政预算案】听众不满未有派消费券 陈波:多办盛事“搞旺个场”长远更具效益

cái zhèng yù suàn àn tīng zhòng bù mǎn wèi yǒu pài xiāo fèi quàn chén mào bō : duō bàn shèng shì gǎo wàng gè chǎng cháng yuǎn gēng jù xiào yì

【Budget】The audience is dissatisfied with the lack of distribution of consumption vouchers Chan Mao-po: Holding more mega events to "make the venue more prosperous" is more effective in the long run

LtnFeb 2026

《天机试炼场》粗俗发言开殉职案玩笑?全炫挨轰急灭火

tiān jī shì liàn chǎng cū sú fā yán kāi 殉 zhí àn wán xiào ? quán xuàn mào āi hōng jí miè huǒ

"Tianji Proving Ground" vulgar speech joke about the death of the duty? Quan Xuanmao was bombarded and quickly extinguished the fire

StheadlineFeb 2026

珍惜生命|秀坪顺利邨45岁妇堕楼 昏迷送院抢救不治

zhēn xī shēng mìng xiù mào píng shùn lì 邨 4 5 suì fù duò lóu hūn mí sòng yuàn qiǎng jiù bù zhì

Cherish Life|A 45-year-old woman fell from a building in Shunli Estate of Sau Mau Ping and was sent to the hospital in a coma for rescue

東方日報Feb 2026

坪顺利邨妇人堕楼亡 原因待查

xiù mào píng shùn lì 邨 fù rén duò lóu wáng yuán yīn dài chá

The cause of the death of a woman in Shunli Village, Sau Mau Ping, who fell from a building is to be investigated

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced mào

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 茂 (mào) mean in Chinese?
茂 (mào) primarily means "luxuriant." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2245 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 茂 have?
茂 is written with 8 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 茂?
The radical associated with 茂 is 艹 (grass). This radical appears in many characters related to grass.
What are the components of 茂?
茂 is composed of: 艹 (semantic), 戊 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱艹戊 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 茂?
Common words with 茂 include: 茂盛 (mào shèng, "lush"); 茂密 (mào mì, "dense (of plant growth)"); 风华正茂 (fēng huá zhèng mào, "in one's prime"); 繁茂 (fán mào, "(of vegetation) lush"); 声情并茂 (shēng qíng bìng mào, "(of a singer etc) excellent in voice and expression (idiom)"). There are over 23 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 茂 (mào)?
Several characters share the pronunciation mào: 猫 (cat (CL:隻|只[zhi1])), 毛 (hair), 矛 (spear), 茅 (reeds), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 茂 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 茂 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.