默 (mò): silent, to write from memory
默 (mò) is a Chinese character meaning “silent.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 黑 (structural) and 犬 (structural). It ranks #1030 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically pictographic, 默 a dog 犬 watching in the dark 黑. Its radical form 黑 (black) appears in many related characters such as 墨 (mò, abbr. for 墨西哥, Mexico).
Definitions
- silent
- to write from memory
Etymology & Origin
pictographicA dog 犬 watching in the dark 黑
Decomposition: ⿰黑犬 (layout: left-right)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 默 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 默
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 沉默verb | chén mò | taciturn | 5 |
| 幽默adjective | yōu mò | (loanword) humor | 4 |
| 默默adverb | mò mò | in silence | 6 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 幽默感 | yōu mò gǎn | sense of humor |
| 默契 | mò qì | tacit understanding |
| 穆罕默德 | mù hǎn mò dé | Muhammad (c. 570–632), central figure of Islam and prophet of God |
| 缄默 | jiān mò | to keep silent |
| 默认 | mò rèn | to agree tacitly |
| 默默无闻 | mò mò wú wén | (idiom) unknown |
| 默哀 | mò āi | to observe a moment of silence in tribute |
| 爱默生 | ài mò shēng | Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American poet, essayist, and philosopher |
| 沉默寡言 | chén mò guǎ yán | habitually silent (idiom) |
| 默许 | mò xǔ | to accept tacitly |
| 静默 | jìng mò | silent |
| 阿尔茨海默 | ā ěr cí hǎi mò | Alois Alzheimer (1864–1915), German psychiatrist and neuropathologist |
| 潜移默化 | qián yí mò huà | imperceptible influence |
| 默多克 | mò duō kè | Murdoch (name) |
| 默然 | mò rán | silent |
默 appears in 57 compound words: 53 as the first character, 12 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 默 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (7)
Muhammad (Islamic prophet); a transliteration of the Arabic male given name مُحَمَّد (muḥammad), equivalent to Muhammad
Example Sentences
我在字典里查到了默字的详细解释。
wǒ zài zì diǎn lǐ chá dào le mò zì de xiáng xì xiè shì .
I looked up the detailed explanation of the character "默" in the dictionary.
默茨明访华 商务部:中方高度重视对德经贸合...
mò 茨 míng fǎng huá shāng wù bù : zhōng fāng gāo dù chóng shì duì dé jīng mào gě . . .
Mertzmin's visit to China Ministry of Commerce: China attaches great importance to economic and trade cooperation with Germany...
默茨明起访华两日 期间将参观宇树科技、西门...
mò 茨 míng qǐ fǎng huá liǎng rì qī jiān jiāng cān guàn yǔ shù kē jì , xī mén . . .
During Mertzming's two-day visit to China, he will visit Yushu Technology, Ximen...
中方介绍德国总理默茨访华安排:愿推动中德关系取得更大发展
zhōng fāng jiè shào dé guó zǒng lǐ mò 茨 fǎng huá ān pái : yuàn tuī dòng zhōng dé guān xì qǔ dé gēng dà fā zhǎn
China introduced the arrangement of German Chancellor Merz's visit to China: It is willing to promote greater development of Sino-German relations
默茨访华前警告不要抱有“幻想”
mò 茨 fǎng huá qián jǐng gào bù yāo bào yǒu huàn xiǎng
Mertz warned against "illusions" before visiting China
雄辩如银，沉默如金。
Xióngbiàn rú yín, chénmò rú jīn.
Eloquence is silver, silence is golden.
杰西死寂般沈默地盯着乔丹看。
Jiéxī sǐjì bān chén mò de dīng zhe Qiáodān kàn.
Jessie stared at Jordan in dead silence.
林肯本人是沉默寡言的。
Línkěn běnrén shì chénmò-guǎyán de.
Lincoln himself was silent.
我不可能继续保持沈默了。
Wǒ bù kěnéng jìxù bǎochí chén mò le.
I can no longer remain silent.
这些无限空间的永恒沉默使我恐惧。
Zhèxiē wúxiàn kōngjiān de yǒnghéng chénmò shǐ wǒ kǒngjù.
The eternal silence of these infinite spaces terrifies me.
Character Family
黑 Radical Family — Characters sharing the black radical
Related Characters
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 默 (mò) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 默 have?
What is the radical of 默?
What are the components of 默?
What are common words containing 默?
What characters sound the same as 默 (mò)?
Is 默 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 默 with real-time feedback
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