沫 (mò): foam, suds

沫 (mò) is a Chinese character meaning “foam.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 氵 (semantic) and 末 (phonetic). It ranks #2410 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 沫 water. Its radical form 氵 (water) appears in many related characters such as 水 (shuǐ, water), 汉 (hàn, Han ethnic group), 汽 (qì, steam).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. foam
  2. suds

Etymology & Origin

沫

pictophoneticwater

Decomposition: ⿰氵末 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
泡沫nounpào mòfoam
唾沫nountuò mospittle
泡沫塑料nounpào mò sù liàostyrofoam
白沫nounbái mòfroth
吐沫nountù mosaliva
相濡以沫phrasexiāng rú yǐ mò(lit.) (of fish) to moisten each other with spittle (when out of the water) (idiom)
肥皂沫nounféi zào mòsoapy lather
量子沫liàng zǐ mòquantum foam (in string theory, and science fiction)
史沫特莱shǐ mò tè láiAgnes Smedley (1892-1950), US journalist and activist, reported on China, esp. the communist side
艾格尼丝·史沫特莱ài gé ní sī · shǐ mò tè láiAgnes Smedley (1892-1950), US journalist who reported on China, esp. the communist side
飞沫传染fēi mò chuán rǎndroplet infection (disease transmission from sneezing, coughing etc)
口沫横飞kǒu mò héng fēito speak vehemently
以沫相濡yǐ mò xiāng rúsee 相濡以沫
泡沫经济nounpào mò jīng jìbubble economy
口沫kǒu mòspittle
27
Total compounds
0
As first character
56
As last character
44
As middle character

沫 appears in 27 compound words: 0 as the first character, 56 as the last, and 44 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 沫 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

泡pào
0.7826,426 co-occurrences
郭guō
0.5501,538 co-occurrences
唾tuò
0.519118 co-occurrences
若ruò
0.4961,562 co-occurrences
吐tǔ
0.435230 co-occurrences
塑sù
0.425282 co-occurrences
痰tán
0.40118 co-occurrences
皂zào
0.37228 co-occurrences
夏xià
0.366400 co-occurrences
破pò
0.363394 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (7)

飞沫传染fēi mò chuán rǎnHSK 7+

droplet infection (disease transmission from sneezing, coughing etc)

phrase
口沫横飞kǒu mò héng fēiHSK 7+

to speak vehemently; to express oneself with great passion

phrase
泡沫经济pàomò jīngjìHSK 7+

economic bubble

noun
唾沫星子tuòmo xīngziHSK 7+

spray of saliva; spittle

noun
以沫相濡yǐ mò xiāng rúHSK 7+

see 相濡以沫

phrase
濡沫涸辙rú mò hé zhéHSK 7+

to help each other out in hard times (idiom)

phrase

Showing 6 of 7 idioms containing 沫.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

清晨的沫面波光粼粼,倒映着岸边的柳树。

qīng chén de mò miàn bō guāng 粼 粼 , dǎo yìng zhe àn biān de liǔ shù .

The morning mist shimmered on the water's surface, reflecting the willow trees along the shore.

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

...士丹利:超大规模业者AI支出将超越网路泡沫高峰

. . . shì dān lì : chāo dà guī mó yè zhě A I zhī chū jiāng chāo yuè wǎng lù pāo mò gāo fēng

... Stanley: AI spending by hyperscalers will exceed the peak of the Internet bubble

Ein PresswireFeb 2026

市场泡沫破裂后黄金RWA崛起:维塔金为何在熊市中...

shì chǎng pāo mò pò liè hòu huáng jīn R W A jué qǐ : wéi tǎ jīn wéi hé zài xióng shì zhōng . . .

The rise of gold RWA after the bursting of the market bubble: why is Vita Gold in a bear market...

鉅亨網 - 財經新聞、全球指數、股市報價、商品行情、理財投資Feb 2026

...查:一向稳健的债券投资人现在最担心AI泡沫

. . . chá : yī xiàng wěn jiàn de zhài quàn tóu zī rén xiàn zài zuì dān xīn A I pāo mò

... Cha: Bond investors, who have always been stable, are now most worried about the AI bubble

DigitimesFeb 2026

地缘政治风险、AI泡沫疑虑伤不了 台积电市值首破2兆美元

dì yuán zhèng zhì fēng xiǎn , A I pāo mò yí lǜ shāng bù le tái jī diàn shì zhí shǒu pò 2 zhào měi yuán

Geopolitical risks and AI bubble doubts can't hurt TSMC's market value exceeded $2 trillion for the first time

風傳媒Feb 2026

...全球,《经济学人》为何说是“昂贵的科技泡沫”?

. . . quán qiú , jīng jì xué rén wéi hé shuō shì áng guì de kē jì pāo mò ?

... Globally, why does The Economist say it is an "expensive tech bubble"?

Tatoeba

她与他相濡以沫。

Tā yǔ tā xiāng rú yǐ mò.

She stayed by his side through thick and thin.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 氵 (water) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced mò

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 沫 (mò) mean in Chinese?
沫 (mò) primarily means "foam." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2410 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 沫 and 袜?
沫 (mò) and 袜 (wà) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 氵 vs 衤 (same 末 component).
How many strokes does 沫 have?
沫 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 沫?
The radical associated with 沫 is 氵 (water). This radical appears in many characters related to water.
What are the components of 沫?
沫 is composed of: 氵 (semantic), 末 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰氵末 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 沫?
Common words with 沫 include: 泡沫 (pào mò, "foam"); 唾沫 (tuò mo, "spittle"); 泡沫塑料 (pào mò sù liào, "styrofoam"); 白沫 (bái mò, "froth"); 吐沫 (tù mo, "saliva"). There are over 27 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 沫 (mò)?
Several characters share the pronunciation mò: 抹 (to wipe), 茉 (used in 茉莉), 模 (to imitate), 默 (silent), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 沫 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 沫 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 沫 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.