卯 (mǎo): 4th Earthly Branch

Meanings

1 4th Earthly Branch
2 the rabbit (in the Chinese zodiac)
3 5–7 a.m. (in the traditional Chinese timekeeping system)
4 mortise (woodworking term)

Characters

卯

mǎo

4th Earthly Branch; rabbit; mortise

Examples

她生于卯年，属兔。

Tā shēngyú mǎo nián, shǔtù.

She was born in the Year of the Rabbit.

卯时是早上五点到七点。

Mǎo shí shì zǎoshang wǔdiǎn dào qīdiǎn.

Mao hour is from 5 to 7 in the morning.

Tips

culture

卯 (mǎo) is the 4th of the twelve Earthly Branches (地支), associated with the Rabbit and the hours 5–7 a.m. The twelve branches cycle through years, months, days, and two-hour periods in traditional Chinese timekeeping. 卯 also means a mortise joint in carpentry, giving us the phrase 卯榫 (mortise and tenon).

Components

radical

卩 jié

kneeling person; seal

The right 卩 is the indexing Kangxi radical. The opening-doors pictograph was reanalyzed so its right half matched 卩 (seal/kneeling person), placing 卯 in the seal-radical lookup family alongside 卵 — both share the 'doors flanked by 卩-shape' reanalysis.

pictograph

卯 mǎo

fourth earthly branch; rabbit-hour

Originally a pictograph of a gate or pair of doors opened wide at sunrise — the dawn imagery underlies its assignment to the rabbit-hour (5-7am). The left side preserves the original opening-doors silhouette and is too fused to split into independent pieces.