(móu): to plan, to seek, scheme

(móu) is a Chinese character meaning “to plan.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #988 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, speech. Its radical form (speech) appears in many related characters such as (rèn, to recognize, to admit), (, to remember, to record), (shí, to know, knowledge).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to plan
  2. to seek
  3. scheme

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticspeech

Decomposition: ⿰讠某 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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
móu shāto murder
móu shā ànmurder case
yīn móuto conspire
móu shā zuìmurder
tóng móuto conspire with sb
móu shēngto seek one's livelihood
yù móupremeditated
mì móuconspiracy
cān móu zhǎngchief of staff
móu huàto scheme
gòng móuto scheme together
zhǔ móumastermind
hé móuto conspire
tú móuto conspire
jì móustratagem
87
Total compounds
31
As first character
39
As last character
30
As middle character

appears in 87 compound words: 31 as the first character, 39 as the last, and 30 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.

yīn
0.65626,382 co-occurrences
shā
0.62344,368 co-occurrences
cān
0.602141,026 co-occurrences
cháng
0.581102,426 co-occurrences
zǒng
0.46626,286 co-occurrences
0.44319,434 co-occurrences
guǐ
0.436444 co-occurrences
jūn
0.41925,500 co-occurrences
0.416564 co-occurrences
0.408132 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (18)

bùmóu'érhéHSK 7+

to happen to hold the same views; to agree without previous collaboration

phrase
chūmóuhuàcèHSK 7+

to put forward plans and ideas; to give advice

phrase
duō móu shàn duànHSK 7+

(idiom) resourceful and decisive; resolute and sagacious

phrase
lǎomóushēnsuànHSK 7+

experienced and astute; circumspect and far-seeing; scheming and calculating

phrase
móucáihàimìngHSK 7+

to murder for money; to kill someone for his or her property

phrase
móu chén měng jiàngHSK 7+

strategic experts and powerful generals (idiom)

phrase
móu chén rú yǔHSK 7+

strategic experts as thick as rain (idiom); no shortage of advisers on strategy

phrase
móuchén wǔjiàngHSK 7+

cunning ministers and brave generals

phrase
shàn zì wéi móuHSK 7+

to be good at working for one's own profit (idiom)

phrase
shēnmóuyuǎnlǜHSK 7+

to think deeply and plan carefully; to be circumspect and farsighted

phrase
shū móu shǎo lüèHSK 7+

(idiom) unable to plan; inept at strategy

phrase
sùwèimóumiànHSK 7+

to have never met before

phrase

Showing 12 of 18 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

言谨慎,从不说没有根据的话。

tā móu yán jǐn shèn , cóng bù shuō méi yǒu gēn jù de huà .

He is cautious in his counsel and never speaks without grounds.

中国军网Feb 2026

...近平:以中德关系的稳定性和活力为动荡世界大同

. . . jìn píng : yǐ zhōng dé guān xì de wěn dìng xìng hé huó lì wéi dòng dàng shì jiè móu dà tóng

... Jinping: Seek unity in a turbulent world with the stability and vitality of Sino-German relations

Irna ChineseFeb 2026

伊朗武装部队总参长:敌人试图以“战略消耗”动摇体制、打击...

yī lǎng wǔ zhuāng bù duì zǒng cān móu cháng : dí rén shì tú yǐ zhàn lüè xiāo hào dòng yáo tǐ zhì , dǎ jī . . .

Chief of the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces: The enemy is trying to shake the system with "strategic attrition" and strike...

百度新闻Feb 2026

张艺谈间谍通过“垃圾桶交接加密手机”:国安同...

zhāng yì móu tán jiān dié tōng guò lā jī tǒng jiāo jiē jiā mì shǒu jī : guó ān tóng . . .

Zhang Yimou talks about spies handing over encrypted mobile phones through trash cans: Guoan Tong...

百度新闻Feb 2026

餐饮在线运营商再惠求新加坡和香港双重上市:尚未盈..

cān yǐn zài xiàn yùn yíng shāng zài huì móu qiú xīn jiā pō hé xiāng gǎng shuāng chóng shàng shì : shàng wèi yíng . .

Catering online operator Zai Hui seeks dual listing in Singapore and Hong Kong: not yet profitable:

百度新闻Feb 2026

张艺回应在电影《惊蛰无声》中“间谍在垃圾桶交...

zhāng yì móu huí yīng zài diàn yǐng jīng 蛰 wú shēng zhōng jiān dié zài lā jī tǒng jiāo . . .

Zhang Yimou responded in the movie "Silent Sting", "spies are in the trash can...

Tatoeba

他因杀罪被绞死。

Tā yīn móushāzuì bèi jiǎosǐ.

He was hanged for murder.

Tatoeba

要解开杀背后潜藏之谜!

Yào jiěkāi móushā bèihòu qiáncáng zhī mí!

Solve the mystery lurking behind the murder!

Tatoeba

他有可能是被杀的。

Tā yǒukěnéng shì bèi móushā de.

There's a possibility that the man was murdered.

Tatoeba

警察逮捕了杀这位小姐的凶手。

Jǐngchá dàibǔ le móushā zhèwèi xiǎojie de xiōngshǒu.

The police arrested the man who had murdered the girl.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced móu

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 谋 (móu) mean in Chinese?
谋 (móu) primarily means "to plan." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #988 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 谋 and 煤?
谋 (móu) and 煤 (méi) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 讠 vs 火 (same 某 component).
How many strokes does 谋 have?
谋 is written with 11 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 谋?
The radical associated with 谋 is 讠 (speech). This radical appears in many characters related to speech.
What are the components of 谋?
谋 is composed of: 讠 (semantic), 某 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰讠某 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 谋?
Common words with 谋 include: 谋杀 (móu shā, "to murder"); 谋杀案 (móu shā àn, "murder case"); 阴谋 (yīn móu, "to conspire"); 谋杀罪 (móu shā zuì, "murder"); 同谋 (tóng móu, "to conspire with sb"). There are over 87 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 谋 (móu)?
Several characters share the pronunciation móu: 某 (certain, some). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 谋 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 谋 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.