Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People

毛: fur, hair

Also: feather, down

JLPT N24 strokesGrade 2Your ink: 白 Not met
4 strokes
  • Bronze · Western Zhou
  • Small seal · Qin
  • Today

Bronze and small seal: Academia Sinica 小學堂, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Two readings, and the words that use each

モウmou · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 毛布もうふblanket
  • 毛筆もうひつ(writing) brush
  • 羽毛うもうfeathers, plumage, down,
  • 羊毛ようもうwool,
  • 純毛じゅんもう100 % wool
  • 不毛ふもうsterile, barren, unproductive [n.]

けke · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 毛けhair, fur
  • 毛糸けいとknitting wool
  • 髪の毛かみのけhair (on the head)
  • 鼻毛はなげnose hair
  • 赤毛あかげred hair

Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
Print sheet Present
成り立ち

Where it comes from

Origin · sourced

Pictogram (象形)

Feather or hair.

Source: Wiktionary, 毛 (rev. 93659552), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“The base kanji for the growth of hair on animal skin or the fine, protective down of a young bird.”
From the 毛 hair story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered

毛 gives its sound to

The family reading is モウ (mou). Sound parts: KanjiVG.

Also read モウ

11 kanji share this on'yomi
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · máo

Same form: 毛 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).

Simplified
毛 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
毛 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin máo most common reading

Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.

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