茅 (máo): reeds, rushes

茅 (máo) is a Chinese character meaning “reeds.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 艹 (semantic) and 矛 (phonetic). It ranks #2272 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

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

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. reeds
  2. rushes

Etymology & Origin

茅

pictophoneticgrass

Decomposition: ⿱艹矛 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
茅屋nounmáo wūthatched cottage
达特茅斯dá tè máo sīDartmouth (place name)
普利茅斯proper-nounpǔ lì máo sīPlymouth
名列前茅phrasemíng liè qián máoto rank among the best
茅坑nounmáo kēnglatrine pit
初出茅庐phrasechū chū máo lúventuring from one's thatched hut for the first time (idiom)
茅房nounmáo fángtoilet (rural euphemism)
茅塞顿开phrasemáo sè dùn kāimurky darkness suddenly opens (idiom)
茅厕nounmáo si(dialect) latrine
茅舍nounmáo shècottage
茅草nounmáo cǎosee 白茅
伯恩茅斯proper-nounbó ēn máo sīBournemouth, town in southern England
朴次茅斯proper-nounpǔ cì máo sīPortsmouth, southern English seaport
前茅qián máoforward patrol (military) (old)
三顾茅庐phrasesān gù máo lúlit. to make three visits to the thatched cottage (idiom) (allusion to an episode in Romance of the Three Kingdoms 三國...
43
Total compounds
49
As first character
16
As last character
35
As middle character

茅 appears in 43 compound words: 49 as the first character, 16 as the last, and 35 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 茅 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

膏gāo
0.485324 co-occurrences
朴pǔ
0.475918 co-occurrences
盾dùn
0.438592 co-occurrences
草cǎo
0.4371,644 co-occurrences
屋wū
0.4251,342 co-occurrences
坪píng
0.409382 co-occurrences
斯sī
0.3985,202 co-occurrences
崎qí
0.389556 co-occurrences
普pǔ
0.3871,642 co-occurrences
野yě
0.3781,136 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (10)

伯恩茅斯Bó'ēnmáosīHSK 7+

Bournemouth

初出茅庐chūchūmáolú

to have just begun one's career without any experience

phrase
茅塞顿开máosèdùnkāiHSK 7+

to be enlightened all of a sudden; to come to the realization all of a sudden

phrase
名列前茅mínglièqiánmáoHSK 7+

to rank among the best

phrase
三顾茅庐sāngùmáolú

to sincerely and repeatedly request someone to take up a post

phrase
土阶茅茨tǔ jiē máo cí

lit. earthen steps and a thatched hut; frugal living conditions (idiom)

phrase
土阶茅屋tǔ jiē máo wūHSK 7+

lit. earthen steps and a small cottage; frugal living conditions (idiom)

phrase

Showing 7 of 10 idioms containing 茅.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个茅字在古汉语中有不同的含义。

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

The character "茅" had different meanings in ancient Chinese.

EttodayMar 2026

美驻茅利塔尼亚使馆警告“恐攻风险增” 使馆建筑...

měi zhù máo lì tǎ ní yà shǐ guǎn jǐng gào kǒng gōng fēng xiǎn zēng shǐ guǎn jiàn zhù . . .

U.S. Embassy in Mauritania Warns of "Increased Risk of Terrorist Attacks"; Embassy Building...

Hk01.comMar 2026

英超|般尼茅夫2:2战平曼联

yīng chāo bān ní máo fū 2 : 2 zhàn píng 曼 lián

Premier League | Bournemouth Draws 2-2 with Manchester United

Hk01.comMar 2026

英超|般尼茅夫2:2逼和曼联 哈利马古尼末段被逐兼罚...

yīng chāo bān ní máo fū 2 : 2 bī hé 曼 lián hā lì mǎ gǔ ní mò duàn bèi zhú jiān fá . . .

Premier League | Bournemouth Draws 2-2 with Manchester United; Harry Maguire Sent Off and Penalized in the Final Minutes...

SmzdmMar 2026

美宜佳卖假烟、茅台退出糖酒会!背后真相只有两个字:收缩!

měi yí jiā mài jiǎ yān , máo tái tuì chū táng jiǔ huì ! bèi hòu zhēn xiāng zhī yǒu liǎng gè zì : shōu suō !

Meiyijia Sells Counterfeit Cigarettes, Moutai Withdraws from the China Food & Beverage Fair! The truth behind it all can be summed up in two words: contraction!

InvestingMar 2026

...0多家还在烤酒”!贵州仁怀酱酒“洗牌”,茅台镇余氏兄弟找舍得、国台当“靠山”

. . . 0 duō jiā hái zài kǎo jiǔ ! guì zhōu rén huái jiàng jiǔ xǐ pái , máo tái zhèn yú shì xiōng dì zhǎo shě dé , guó tái dāng kào shān

"...Over 100 companies are still distilling liquor!" A shake-up in Guizhou's Renhuai soy-sauce-flavored liquor industry; the Yu brothers from Maotai Town turn to Shede and Guotai for support

Tatoeba

这栋很高的房子被茅草屋顶覆盖着。

Zhè dòng hěn gāo de fángzi bèi máocǎo wūdǐng fùgài zhe.

The tall house was covered with a thatched roof.

Tatoeba

山坡上有一个茅屋。

Shānpō shàng yǒu yī gè máowū.

There was a cottage on the side of the hill.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 艹 (grass) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced máo

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 茅 (máo) mean in Chinese?
茅 (máo) primarily means "reeds." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2272 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 茅 have?
茅 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 茅?
The radical associated with 茅 is 艹 (grass). This radical appears in many characters related to grass.
What are the components of 茅?
茅 is composed of: 艹 (semantic), 矛 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱艹矛 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 茅?
Common words with 茅 include: 茅屋 (máo wū, "thatched cottage"); 达特茅斯 (dá tè máo sī, "Dartmouth (place name)"); 普利茅斯 (pǔ lì máo sī, "Plymouth"); 名列前茅 (míng liè qián máo, "to rank among the best"); 茅坑 (máo kēng, "latrine pit"). There are over 43 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 茅 (máo)?
Several characters share the pronunciation máo: 毛 (hair), 冒 (to emit), 贸 (trade), 貌 ((bound form) appearance), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 茅 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 茅 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 茅 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.