(mǒu): certain, some

(mǒu) is a Chinese character meaning “certain, some.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #517 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, the sweet 甘 fruit of a certain tree 木. Its radical form (tree) appears in many related characters such as (běn, (bound form) root), (, machine, opportunity), (tiáo, strip).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. certain, some

Etymology & Origin

ideographicThe sweet 甘 fruit of a certain tree 木

Decomposition: ⿱甘木 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
mǒu zhǒngsome kind (of)
mǒu xiēsome
mǒu rénsomeone
mǒu dìsomewhere
mǒu mǒuso-and-so
mǒu shísometime
mǒu shìsomething
mǒu wùsomething
mǒu chùsomewhere
mǒu jiǎsomebody
10
Total compounds
100
As first character
0
As last character
0
As middle character

appears in 10 compound words: 100 as the first character, 0 as the last, and 0 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

xiē
0.654229,500 co-occurrences
zhǒng
0.44838,160 co-occurrences
jūn
0.43817 co-occurrences
kuàng
0.3988,166 co-occurrences
0.37839,666 co-occurrences
lǎng
0.37712 co-occurrences
zài
0.369119,220 co-occurrences
qíng
0.35920,682 co-occurrences
chéng
0.34519,170 co-occurrences
dìng
0.33225,020 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

公司宣布将在本市投资建厂,预计创造上千个就业岗位。

Mǒu gōngsī xuānbù jiāng zài běn shì tóuzī jiàn chǎng, yùjì chuàngzào shàngqiān gè jiùyè gǎngwèi.

A certain company announced it will invest in building a factory in this city, expected to create thousands of jobs.

99 健康网Feb 2026

...窄到一根手指都疼是怎么回事?是不是感染了种妇科病

. . . zhǎi dào yī gēn shǒu zhǐ dōu téng shì zěn má huí shì ? shì bù shì gǎn rǎn le mǒu zhǒng fù kē bìng

... What's going on with it so narrow that it hurts to one finger? Is it infected with some kind of gynecological disease?

中国军网Feb 2026

把“麦克风”递给官兵!海军航空兵团增强课堂吸引力

bǎ mài kè fēng dì gěi guān bīng ! hǎi jūn háng kōng bīng mǒu tuán zēng qiáng kè táng xī yǐn lì

Hand the "microphone" to the officers and soldiers! A certain regiment of naval aviation enhances the attractiveness of the classroom

中国军网Feb 2026

西部战区空军雷达旅(26.2.17)

xī bù zhàn qū kōng jūn léi dá mǒu lǚ ( 2 6 . 2 . 1 7 )

A brigade of the Western Theater Air Force radar (26.2.17)

百度新闻Feb 2026

大山深处:鞭炮声声 笑声朗朗——火箭军部春节见闻

dà shān shēn chǔ biān pào shēng shēng xiào shēng lǎng lǎng huǒ jiàn jūn mǒu bù chūn jié jiàn wén

Deep in the mountains: the sound of firecrackers and the sound of laughter -- a department of the Rocket Force in the Spring Festival

百度新闻Feb 2026

新春走军营丨北部战区陆军边防旅巡逻艇中队守望北疆..

xīn chūn zǒu jūn yíng 丨 běi bù zhàn ōu lù jūn mǒu biān fáng lǚ xún luó tǐng zhōng duì shǒu wàng běi jiāng . .

The new spring walk military camp丨Army in the northern theater of war a border guard brigade patrol boat squadron watch over the northern border ...

Tatoeba

我想去欧洲的个地方。

Wǒ xiǎng qù ōuzhōu de mǒu gè dìfang.

I want to go somewhere in Europe.

Tatoeba

日本在些领域赶上了美国。

Rìběn zài mǒuxiē lǐngyù gǎnshàng le Měiguó.

Japan has caught up with America in some fields.

Tatoeba

珍正在和人交谈。

Zhēn zhèngzài hé mǒurén jiāotán.

Jane is talking with somebody.

Tatoeba

天晚上,他又累又沮丧地回到了家。

Mǒu tiān wǎnshang, tā yòu lèi yòu jǔsàng de huídào le jiā.

One night he came home very tired and sad.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced mǒu

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 某 (mǒu) mean in Chinese?
某 (mǒu) primarily means "certain, some." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #517 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 某 have?
某 is written with 9 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 某?
The radical associated with 某 is 木 (tree). This radical appears in many characters related to tree.
What are the components of 某?
某 is composed of: 甘 (structural), 木 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱甘木 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 某?
Common words with 某 include: 某种 (mǒu zhǒng, "some kind (of)"); 某些 (mǒu xiē, "some"); 某人 (mǒu rén, "someone"); 某地 (mǒu dì, "somewhere"); 某某 (mǒu mǒu, "so-and-so"). There are over 10 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 某 (mǒu)?
Several characters share the pronunciation mǒu: 谋 (to plan). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 某 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 某 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.