冒 (mào): to emit; to give off

Meanings

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

Characters

冒

mào

to emit; to brave; to risk

Examples

HSK 1

他冒着大雨来了。

Tā mào zhe dàyǔ lái le.

He came braving the heavy rain.

HSK 6

不要冒险！

Bùyào màoxiǎn!

Don't take risks!

HSK 7-9

锅里冒着热气。

Guō lǐ mào zhe rèqì.

Steam is rising from the pot.

Tips

usage

冒 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

日 rì

covering hat (here graphic)

Top piece looks like 日 (sun) but is historically a hood or hat with a brim. Original 冒 pictured cloth covering an eye 目, meaning 'covered, hooded.' From there came 'to risk' (heading into danger) and 'to emit' (push up out from under). Indexed under Kangxi #13 冂 (frame), the brim-shape as the cap.

semantic

目 mù

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 目 in 看 (look), 眼 (eye), 睡 (sleep), 直 (straight).

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