墓 (mù) · grave; tomb; mausoleum

Measure Word

一座墓 zuò

Meanings

1 grave; tomb; mausoleum

Characters

墓

mù

grave; tomb

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

Examples

HSK 3

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.

HSK 5

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.

HSK 7-9

这是秦始皇的陵墓。

Zhè shì Qín Shǐhuáng de língmù.

This is the mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shi Huang.

Tips

culture

扫墓 (tomb sweeping) is the central activity of 清明节 (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 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).