摹 (mó): (bound form) to imitate, to copy

摹 (mó) is a Chinese character meaning “(bound form) to imitate.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 莫 (phonetic) and 手 (semantic). It ranks #4091 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 摹 hand. Its radical form 扌 (hand) appears in many related characters such as 手 (shǒu, hand), 打 (dǎ, hit, make), 把 (bǎ, to hold, measure word).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. (bound form) to imitate
  2. to copy

Etymology & Origin

摹

pictophonetichand

Decomposition: ⿱莫手 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
临摹verblín móto copy (a model of calligraphy or painting etc)
摹仿mó fǎngvariant of 模仿
摹写verbmó xiěto trace over
摹声词mó shēng cí(linguistics) onomatopoeic word
指摹zhǐ mófingerprint
摹画mó huàto describe
描摹verbmiáo móto trace over
摹拟mó nǐvariant of 模擬|模拟
8
Total compounds
63
As first character
38
As last character
0
As middle character

摹 appears in 8 compound words: 63 as the first character, 38 as the last, and 0 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Example Sentences

中国新闻网·文化Sep 2026

美育不是简单教孩子临摹造型、掌握色彩,核心是保护创造力。

měi yù bù shì jiǎn dān jiào hái zǐ lín mó zào xíng , zhǎng wò sè cǎi , hé xīn shì bǎo hù chuàng zào lì .

Aesthetic education is not simply about teaching children to copy forms or master colors; its core is to nurture creativity.

中国新闻网·文化Sep 2026

李庭耀 摄 当日,永乐宫壁画临摹基地正式揭牌。

lǐ tíng yào shè dāng rì , yǒng lè gōng bì huà lín mó jī dì zhèng shì jiē pái .

Photo by Li Tingyao. On that day, the Yongle Palace Mural Reproduction Center was officially unveiled.

少数派Aug 2026

佛罗伦萨学院美术馆,最早是为了给艺术学院的学生提供一些临摹范本而建造的。

fó luó lún sà xué yuàn měi shù guǎn , zuì zǎo shì wéi le gěi yì shù xué yuàn de xué shēng tí gōng yī xiē lín mó fàn běn ér jiàn zào de .

The Florence Academy Gallery was originally built to provide students at the Academy of Fine Arts with models to copy.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

《甲骨文摹本大系》编撰出版期间,已完成新缀合甲骨1200多组。

jiǎ gǔ wén mó běn dà xì biān zhuàn chū bǎn qī jiān , yǐ wán chéng xīn zhuì hé jiǎ gǔ 1 2 0 0 duō zǔ .

During the compilation and publication of *The Comprehensive Series of Oracle Bone Inscription Copies*, more than 1,200 sets of oracle bone inscriptions were successfully reassembled.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

节目在记录戍边守护与生态变迁的同时,细腻描摹出藏地民生的温暖蜕变。

jié mù zài jì lù 戍 biān shǒu hù yǔ shēng tài biàn qiān de tóng shí , xì nì miáo mó chū zàng dì mín shēng de wēn nuǎn tuì biàn .

While documenting border defense and ecological changes, the program also vividly portrays the heartwarming transformation in the lives of the Tibetan people.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 手 (hand) component

扌 Radical Family — Characters sharing the hand radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced mó

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 摹 (mó) mean in Chinese?
摹 (mó) primarily means "(bound form) to imitate." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #4091 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 摹 and 幕?
摹 (mó) and 幕 (mù) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 扌 vs 巾 (same 莫 component).
How many strokes does 摹 have?
摹 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 摹?
The radical associated with 摹 is 扌 (hand). This radical appears in many characters related to hand.
What are the components of 摹?
摹 is composed of: 莫 (phonetic), 手 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱莫手 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 摹?
Common words with 摹 include: 临摹 (lín mó, "to copy (a model of calligraphy or painting etc)"); 摹仿 (mó fǎng, "variant of 模仿"); 摹写 (mó xiě, "to trace over"); 摹声词 (mó shēng cí, "(linguistics) onomatopoeic word"); 指摹 (zhǐ mó, "fingerprint"). There are over 8 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 摹 (mó)?
Several characters share the pronunciation mó: 模 (to imitate), 膜 (membrane). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 摹 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 摹 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 摹 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.