拇 (mǔ): thumb
拇 (mǔ) is a Chinese character meaning “thumb.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 扌 (semantic) and 母 (phonetic). It ranks #3046 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 拇 hand. Its radical form 扌 (hand) appears in many related characters such as 手 (shǒu, hand), 打 (dǎ, hit, make), 把 (bǎ, to hold, measure word).
Definitions
- thumb
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 拇 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 拇指noun | mǔ zhǐ | thumb |
| 大拇指noun | dà mu zhǐ | thumb |
| 小拇指noun | xiǎo mǔ zhǐ | little finger |
| 二拇指noun | èr mu zhǐ | index finger |
| 竖起大拇指 | shù qǐ dà mu zhǐ | to give a thumbs-up |
| 大拇哥noun | dà mǔ gē | thumb |
| 拇外翻 | mǔ wài fān | bunion |
| 拇趾外翻 | mǔ zhǐ wài fān | bunion |
| 拇指甲 | mǔ zhǐ jia | thumbnail |
| 拇战 | mǔ zhàn | finger-guessing game |
| 翘拇指 | qiào mǔ zhǐ | to give a thumbs-up |
| 拇囊炎noun | mǔ náng yán | bunion |
| 拇趾noun | mǔ zhǐ | big toe |
拇 appears in 13 compound words: 54 as the first character, 0 as the last, and 46 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 拇 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Example Sentences
写好拇字需要掌握正确的笔画顺序。
xiě hǎo mǔ zì xū yāo zhǎng wò zhèng què de bǐ huà shùn xù .
To write the character "拇" correctly, you need to master the correct stroke order.
手掌大小、拇指活动范围和口袋尺寸,共同划出了一条物理红线。
shǒu zhǎng dà xiǎo , mǔ zhǐ huó dòng fàn wéi hé kǒu dài chǐ cùn , gòng tóng huá chū le yī tiáo wù lǐ hóng xiàn .
The size of a palm, the range of motion of the thumb, and pocket size together define a physical limit.
拇指操控云台转向,另一侧滑块控制变焦,两套操作互不干扰。
mǔ zhǐ cāo kòng yún tái zhuǎn xiàng , lìng yī cè huá kuài kòng zhì biàn jiāo , liǎng tào cāo zuò hù bù gān rǎo .
Use your thumb to control the pan of the gimbal, and the slider on the other side to control the zoom; the two sets of controls do not interfere with each other.
刚换上新机的人,常常还会下意识把大拇指按向那块已经空空如也的下巴区域。
gāng huàn shàng xīn jī de rén , cháng cháng hái huì xià yì shí bǎ dà mǔ zhǐ àn xiàng nà kuài yǐ jīng kōng kōng rú yě de xià bā qū yù .
People who have just switched to a new phone often still subconsciously reach with their thumb toward that now-empty area at the bottom of the screen.
视频中的女性面带微笑,比着和平手势和大拇指,最重要的一点是,她们在自由行走。
shì pín zhōng de nǚ xìng miàn dài wēi xiào , bǐ zhe hé píng shǒu shì hé dà mǔ zhǐ , zuì chóng yāo de yī diǎn shì , tā men zài zì yóu háng zǒu .
In the video, the women are smiling, making peace signs and giving thumbs-up—and most importantly, they are walking freely.
Character Family
Homophones — Characters pronounced mǔ
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 拇 (mǔ) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 拇 and 每?
How many strokes does 拇 have?
What is the radical of 拇?
What are the components of 拇?
What are common words containing 拇?
What characters sound the same as 拇 (mǔ)?
Is 拇 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 拇 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.