末 (mò): tip, end, final stage, latter part, inessential detail, powder

末 (mò) is a Chinese character meaning “tip.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 木 (structural) and 一 (structural). It ranks #1162 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 末 the top 一 of a tree 木. Its radical form 木 (tree) appears in many related characters such as 本 (běn, (bound form) root), 机 (jī, machine, opportunity), 条 (tiáo, strip).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. tip
  2. end
  3. final stage
  4. latter part
  5. inessential detail
  6. powder

Etymology & Origin

末

ideographicThe top 一 of a tree 木

Decomposition: ⿻木一 (layout: overlay)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 末

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
周末nounzhōu mòweekend3
期末nounqī mòthe end of a term or semester (in school)4

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
末日nounmò rìlast day
芥末nounjiè momustard
粉末nounfěn mòfine powder
末端nounmò duāntip
末尾nounmò wěiend
末期nounmò qīend (of a period)
末路nounmò lùdead end
末梢nounmò shāotip
末世nounmò shìlast phase (of an age)
始末nounshǐ mòwhole story
年末nounnián mòend of the year
末班车nounmò bān chēlast bus or train
细枝末节phrasexì zhī mò jiéminor details
月末nounyuè mòend of month
肉末nounròu mòground meat
86
Total compounds
44
As first character
38
As last character
17
As middle character

末 appears in 86 compound words: 44 as the first character, 38 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 末 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

端duān
0.51815,712 co-occurrences
梢shāo
0.508918 co-occurrences
纪jì
0.48916,350 co-occurrences
清qīng
0.48523,514 co-occurrences
世shì
0.46634,688 co-occurrences
粉fěn
0.4655,520 co-occurrences
周zhōu
0.46016,129 co-occurrences
篇piān
0.45421 co-occurrences
期qī
0.44135,514 co-occurrences
代dài
0.43732,832 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (9)

本末倒置běnmòdàozhìHSK 5+

putting the cart before the horse

phrase
末代皇帝mò dài huáng dìHSK 6+

The Last Emperor, 1987 biopic of Pu Yi 溥儀|溥仪 by Bernardo Bertolucci

phrase
末梢神经mò shāo shén jīngHSK 7+

peripheral nerve

phrase
穷途末路qióngtúmòlùHSK 5+

to be very poor or desperate; to be back to the wall

phrase
舍本逐末shěběnzhúmòHSK 5+

to attend to minor unimportant details while neglecting the essentials

phrase
世界末日shìjiè mòrìHSK 3+

end of the world; apocalypse

noun
细微末节xìwēimòjiéHSK 4+

trivial detail; tiny and insignificant detail

phrase
细枝末节xìzhīmòjiéHSK 6+

trivial detail; tiny and insignificant detail

phrase
强弩之末qiángnǔzhīmòHSK 4+

exhausted strength; spent force; strong force that has been exhausted

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

学期末,学生们都在忙着准备考试。

Xuéqī mò, xuéshēngmen dōu zài mángzhe zhǔnbèi kǎoshì.

At the end of the semester, students are busy preparing for exams.

It之家Feb 2026

拒绝“末日刷屏”:美国年轻人对抗信息过载,带火老...

jù jué mò rì shuā bǐng měi guó nián qīng rén duì kàng xìn xī guò zài , dài huǒ lǎo . . .

Resisting the "Doomsday Screen Flood": Young Americans Combat Information Overload, Reviving Old...

Fx168 Finance NetworkFeb 2026

又一篇关于人工智能末日论的文章疯传,这次作者预言标普500将...

yòu yī piān guān yú rén gōng zhì néng mò rì lùn de wén zhāng fēng chuán , zhè cì zuò zhě yù yán biāo pǔ jiāng . . .

Another article predicting the apocalypse of artificial intelligence is going viral. This time, the author forecasts that the S&P 500 will...

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

港置周末10大屋苑錄得約2宗成交按周下跌約50%

gǎng zhì zhōu mò dà wū 苑 錄 dé 約 zōng chéng jiāo àn zhōu xià diē 約

About 2 transactions were recorded in 10 major housing estates of HKSAR over the weekend, representing a week-on-week drop of about 50%.

Orientaldaily MyFeb 2026

韩沙率18国会议员联署 挺阿末三苏里任国盟主席

hán shā lǜ guó huì yì yuán lián shǔ tǐng ā mò sān sū lǐ rèn guó méng zhǔ xí

HANSA leads 18 MPs to sign a petition in favor of Amar Sansouri as NLD president.

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

「滶晨II」馬年首周末沽2伙 套現近2700萬元

滶 chén 馬 nián shǒu zhōu mò gū huǒ tào 現 jìn 萬 yuán

"Sold 2 units in the first weekend of the Year of the Horse, realizing nearly $27 million.

Tatoeba

如果你不忙,这周末为何不来跟我钓鱼呢?

Rúguǒ nǐ bù máng, zhè zhōumò wèihé bù lái gēn wǒ diàoyú ne?

If you are not busy, why don't you come fishing with me this weekend?

Tatoeba

你的周末是怎么过的?

Nǐ de zhōumò shì zěnme guo de?

How did you spend your weekend?

Tatoeba

这个周末你可以抽点时间教我法文吗?

Zhège zhōumò nǐ kěyǐ chōu diǎn shíjiān jiāo wǒ Fǎwén ma?

Will you have a little time this weekend to help me with my French?

Tatoeba

上周末过得怎么样,南希?

Shàng zhōumò guòdé zěnmeyàng, Nánxī?

How was last weekend, Nancy?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced mò

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 末 (mò) mean in Chinese?
末 (mò) primarily means "tip." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #1162 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 末 and 始?
末 (mò) and 始 (shǐ) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 末 (end) vs 始 (begin).
How many strokes does 末 have?
末 is written with 5 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 末?
The radical associated with 末 is 木 (tree). This radical appears in many characters related to tree.
What are the components of 末?
末 is composed of: 木 (structural), 一 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿻木一 with a overlay layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 末?
Common words with 末 include: 周末 (zhōu mò, "weekend"); 末日 (mò rì, "last day"); 芥末 (jiè mo, "mustard"); 期末 (qī mò, "the end of a term or semester (in school)"); 粉末 (fěn mò, "fine powder"). There are over 86 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 末 (mò)?
Several characters share the pronunciation mò: 抹 (to wipe). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 末 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 末 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 末 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.