mào
verb HSK 5 #1,688

Meanings

  1. 1 to emit; to give off
  2. 2 to risk; to brave
  3. 3 to pretend to be; bold

Examples

Guō lǐ mào zhe rèqì.
Steam is rising from the pot.
Tā mào zhe dàyǔ lái le.
He came braving the heavy rain.
Bùyào màoxiǎn!
Don't take risks!

Tips

usage
is used in: 冒险 (to take a risk), 感冒 (a cold/flu), 冒充 (to impersonate), 冒犯 (to offend). It carries senses of 'emerging outward' or 'daring/braving.'

Components

semantic
covering hat (here graphic)
Top piece looks like (sun) but is historically a hood or hat with a brim. Original pictured cloth covering an eye , meaning 'covered, hooded.' From there came 'to risk' (heading into danger) and 'to emit' (push up out from under). Indexed under Kangxi #13 (jiōng, frame), the brim-shape as the cap.
semantic
eye
Bottom eye component — five strokes drawing a vertical eye with two pupil-bars inside. Anchors the original picture: a hood pulled down over the eye. From this 'covering' image came 'risk, brave, emit, dare.' Same in (look), (eye), (sleep), (straight).

Filed under radical (jiōng, #13) by convention. is not a separate component in , so no strokes are highlighted.

Stroke Order

mào