木 (mù): wood/tree

木 (mù) is a Chinese character meaning “wood/tree.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 十 (structural) and 八 (structural). It ranks #694 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically pictographic, 木 a tree. 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. wood/tree

Etymology & Origin

木

pictographicA tree

Decomposition: ⿻十八 (layout: overlay)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 木

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
木头nounmù touwood5
树木nounshù mùtree5
木材nounmù cáiwood6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
木偶nounmù ǒupuppet
木乃伊nounmù nǎi yī(loanword) mummy (preserved corpse)
木板nounmù bǎnslab
麻木adjectivemá mùnumb
木马nounmù mǎwooden horse
木匠nounmù jiàngcarpenter
铁木真proper-nountiě mù zhēnTemujin, birth name of Genghis Khan 成吉思汗
灌木丛nounguàn mù cóngshrub
灌木nounguàn mùbush
木桩nounmù zhuāngwooden pile
木兰nounmù lánlily magnolia (Magnolia liliflora)
伐木verbfá mùto fell trees (for timber)
木棍nounmù gùnwooden stick
木星proper-nounmù xīngJupiter (planet)
木制adjectivemù zhìwooden
105
Total compounds
55
As first character
42
As last character
3
As middle character

木 appears in 105 compound words: 55 as the first character, 42 as the last, and 3 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 木 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

霍huò
0.756101 co-occurrences
兹zī
0.644103 co-occurrences
峡xiá
0.62286 co-occurrences
帖tiē
0.5496,358 co-occurrences
灌guàn
0.5348,080 co-occurrences
佐zuǒ
0.53228,587 co-occurrences
栅zhà
0.51211 co-occurrences
舶bó
0.51010 co-occurrences
砖zhuān
0.5014,214 co-occurrences
齐qí
0.50010,262 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (25)

草木皆兵cǎomùjiēbīngHSK 7+

Describes a situation in which someone is being overly paranoid: to apprehend danger in every sound

phrase
呆若木鸡dāiruòmùjīHSK 7+

dumbstruck

phrase
佳木斯市jiā mù sī shìHSK 7+

Jiamusi, prefecture-level city in Heilongjiang Province 黑龍江省|黑龙江省

phrase
枯木逢春kūmùféngchūnHSK 7+

to get a new lease of life in a desperate situation

phrase
良禽择木liángqínzémùHSK 7+

synonym of 良禽擇木而棲 /良禽择木而栖 (liángqín zé mù ér qī)

phrase
麻木不仁má mù bù rénHSK 7+

numbed; insensitive; apathetic

phrase
木本植物mùběn zhíwùHSK 5+

woody plant

noun
木已成舟mùyǐchéngzhōuHSK 7+

the die is cast; what's done is done

phrase
山颓木坏shān tuí mù huàiHSK 7+

lit. the mountains crumble and the trees lie ruined; a great sage has died (idiom)

phrase
桃花心木táohuāxīnmùHSK 5+

mahogany

noun
提线木偶tíxiàn mù'ǒuHSK 5+

marionette; puppet; someone who is manipulated by another

noun
图木舒克TúmùshūkèHSK 5+

Tumxuk, Tumushuke (a county-level city of the Xinjiang autonomous region, China)

Showing 12 of 25 idioms containing 木.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这批木材是从国外进口的,质量符合国家标准。

Zhè pī mùcái shì cóng guówài jìnkǒu de, zhìliàng fúhé guójiā biāozhǔn.

This batch of timber was imported from abroad and meets national quality standards.

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

泉州小木偶,撬动观演大市场

quán zhōu xiǎo mù ǒu , qiào dòng guàn yǎn dà shì chǎng

Quanzhou puppets leverage the big market for performances

LtnFeb 2026

春神来了!洋红风铃木盛开 台中赏花地图曝

chūn shén lái le ! yáng hóng fēng líng mù shèng kāi tái zhōng shǎng huā dì tú pù

The god of spring is coming! Magenta wind bells are in full bloom, and the Taichung flower viewing map is exposed

Orientaldaily MyFeb 2026

墨西哥毒枭密会情妇曝行踪 躲灌木丛驳火中枪惨死

mò xī gē dú 枭 mì huì qíng fù pù háng zōng duǒ guàn mù cóng bó huǒ zhōng qiāng cǎn sǐ

Mexican drug lord's secret meeting mistress revealed her whereabouts and died tragically after being shot in the bushes

Hk01.comFeb 2026

东涌东站平顶 土木工程大致完成 将展开机电工程

dōng chōng dōng zhàn píng dǐng tǔ mù gōng chéng dà zhì wán chéng jiāng zhǎn kāi jī diàn gōng chéng

Tung Chung East Station flat roof civil engineering works are substantially completed Electrical and mechanical works will commence

百度新闻Feb 2026

(新春走基层)从塔里木河到钱塘江:一颗“石榴籽”的..

xīn chūn zǒu jī céng cóng tǎ lǐ mù hé dào qián táng jiāng yī kē shí 榴 籽 de . .

(From Tarim River to Qiantang River: A "Pomegranate Seed" of...

Tatoeba

您是乌鲁木齐人吗?

Nín shì Wūlǔmùqí rén ma?

Are you from Urumqi?

Tatoeba

花园被木栅栏围了起来。

Huāyuán bèi mù zhàlán wéi le qǐlai.

The garden was surrounded by a wooden fence.

Tatoeba

把扑克牌放在橡木桌上。

Bǎ pūkèpái fàng zài xiàngmù zhuō shàng.

Place the deck of cards on the oaken table.

Tatoeba

树木排出氧气,吸收二氧化碳。

Shùmù páichū yǎngqì, xīshōu èryǎnghuàtàn.

Trees give off oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide.

Character Family

木 Radical Family — Characters sharing the tree radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced mù

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 木 (mù) mean in Chinese?
木 (mù) primarily means "wood/tree." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #694 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 木 have?
木 is written with 4 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 木?
The radical associated with 木 is 木 (tree). This radical appears in many characters related to tree.
What are the components of 木?
木 is composed of: 十 (structural), 八 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿻十八 with a overlay layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 木?
Common words with 木 include: 木头 (mù tou, "wood"); 木偶 (mù ǒu, "puppet"); 木乃伊 (mù nǎi yī, "(loanword) mummy (preserved corpse)"); 木板 (mù bǎn, "slab"); 麻木 (má mù, "numb"). There are over 105 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 木 (mù)?
Several characters share the pronunciation mù: 目 (eye), 母 (mother), 幕 (curtain or screen), 牧 (to herd), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 木 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 木 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 木 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.