(): wood/tree

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

Etymologically pictographic, a tree. Its radical form (tree) appears in many related characters such as (běn, (bound form) root), (, machine, opportunity), (tiáo, strip).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. wood/tree

Etymology & Origin

pictographicA tree

Decomposition: ⿻十八 (layout: overlay)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
nounmù touslow-witted5
nounshù mùtree5
nounmù cáiwood6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
mù ǒupuppet
mù bǎnslab
má mùnumb
mù mǎwooden horse
mù jiàngcarpenter
guàn mùbush
mù zhuāngwooden pile
mù lánlily magnolia (Magnolia liliflora)
fá mùto cut wood
mù gùnwooden stick
mù xīngJupiter (planet)
mù zhìwooden
líng mùSuzuki (Japanese surname)
mù gōngwoodwork
mù jīwooden clogs
100
Total compounds
59
As first character
41
As last character
0
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 59 as the first character, 41 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.

0.61912 co-occurrences
zuǒ
0.57485,722 co-occurrences
tiē
0.55719,074 co-occurrences
guàn
0.53524,243 co-occurrences
líng
0.5239,076 co-occurrences
nǎi
0.52246,950 co-occurrences
zhuān
0.50812,642 co-occurrences
0.50130,792 co-occurrences
cái
0.50049,279 co-occurrences
shù
0.49829,244 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (23)

cǎomùjiēbīngHSK 7+

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

phrase
dāiruòmùjīHSK 7+

dumbstruck

phrase
jiā mù sī shìHSK 7+

Jiamusi, prefecture-level city in Heilongjiang Province 黑龍江省|黑龙江省[Hei1 long2 jiang1 Sheng3]

phrase
kūmùféngchūnHSK 7+

to get a new lease of life in a desperate situation

phrase
liángqínzémùHSK 7+

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

phrase
mùběn zhíwùHSK 5+

woody plant

noun
mùyǐchéngzhōuHSK 7+

the die is cast; what's done is done

phrase
shān tuí mù huàiHSK 7+

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

phrase
táohuāxīnmùHSK 5+

mahogany

noun
线tíxiàn mù'ǒuHSK 5+

marionette; puppet; someone who is manipulated by another

noun
TúmùshūkèHSK 5+

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

Tuōmù'ěr FēngHSK 6+

Jengish Chokusu (the highest mountain in the Tian Shan mountain system, located on the China-Kyrgyzstan border)

Showing 12 of 23 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这批材是从国外进口的,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

您是乌鲁齐人吗?

Nín shì Wūlǔmùqí rén ma?

Are you from Urumqi?

Tatoeba

花园被栅栏围了起来。

Huāyuán bèi mù zhàlán wéi le qǐlai.

The garden was surrounded by a wooden fence.

Tatoeba

把扑克牌放在橡桌上。

Bǎ pūkèpái fàng zài xiàngmù zhuō shàng.

Place the deck of cards on the oaken table.

Tatoeba

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

Radical Family — Characters sharing the tree radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced

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, "slow-witted"); 木偶 (mù ǒu, "puppet"); 木板 (mù bǎn, "slab"); 麻木 (má mù, "numb"); 树木 (shù mù, "tree"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 木 (mù)?
Several characters share the pronunciation mù: 母 (mother), 亩 (classifier for fields), 牡 ((of a bird, animal or plant) male), 目 (eye), 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 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.