漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People
母: mother
Oracle bone · Shang Today
Oracle bone: Wikimedia Commons, traced from Academia Sinica, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Two readings, and the words that use each
ボbo · on'yomi · in compounds
- 母国語ぼこくごmother tongue
- 母音ぼいんvowel
- 母校ぼこうalma mater
- 祖母そぼgrandmother
ははhaha · kun'yomi · on its own
- 母ははone's own mother
- 母親ははおやmother
Special readingsThese words are read as a whole, not from the readings above.
- お母さんおかあさんmother [hon.]
Also read も, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Differentiated form of 女 with the addition of distinguishing dots. In the early oracle bone texts both words 女 (“woman”) and 母 were written as 女 (,, ).
Source: Wiktionary, 母 (rev. 93778250), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“The base form representing a mother nursing a child, the symbol of nurturing, care, and the origin of life.”
Connections
Also read ボ
7 kanji share this on'yomiIn ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · mǔ
Same form: 母 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 母 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 母 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin mǔ most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.