墓 (mù): grave; tomb; mausoleum

Measure Word

一座墓 zuò

Meanings

1 grave; tomb; mausoleum

Characters

墓

mu

grave; tomb

莫 (sunset/nothing) + 土 (earth) — where the sun sets into the earth

Examples

他们在那里发现了一座古墓。

Tāmen zài nàlǐ fāxiàn le yī zuò gǔmù.

They discovered an ancient tomb there.

每年清明节我们都去扫墓。

Měinián Qīngmíngjié wǒmen dōu qù sǎomù.

We go to sweep the graves every Qingming Festival.

这是秦始皇的陵墓。

Zhè shì Qínshǐhuáng de língmù.

This is the mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shi Huang.

Tips

culture

扫墓 (sǎomù, tomb sweeping) is the central activity of 清明节 (Qīngmíng Jié, April 4-5), when families visit ancestors' graves to clean them and make offerings.

memory

墓 has 土 (earth) at the bottom — a grave is in the earth. The top part 莫 (mò) gives the sound hint.

Components

radical

土 tǔ

earth; soil

Bottom earth radical — the indexing radical, anchoring 墓 in the ground/structure family. Classical 墓 specifically meant a flat earth burial without a mound or tree, distinguishing it from 坟 (raised tomb) and 陵 (imperial mausoleum). The earth radical carries that literal soil meaning. Pair with 坟 (grave-mound), 葬 (to bury).

phonetic

莫 mò

do not; dusk (here phonetic)

Top 莫 supplies the sound directly — mò matches the whole reading with no drift. 莫 itself originally pictured the sun setting into grass at dusk (the source of 暮 'evening'). A faint semantic echo: a grave is the sun setting on a life. Same phonetic feeds 暮 (dusk), 慕 (admire), 募 (recruit), 模 (mould), 漠 (desert).