沐 (mù): to bathe

Meanings

1 to bathe
2 to wash one's hair
3 (figurative) to be bathed in (light, grace, kindness)

Characters

沐

mù

to bathe (originally: wash hair)

Examples

沐浴在阳光下让人感到温暖。

Mùyù zài yángguāng xià ràng rén gǎndào wēnnuǎn.

Bathing in sunlight makes one feel warm.

我们沐着春风走在花园里。

Wǒmen mù zhe chūnfēng zǒu zài huāyuán lǐ.

We walked through the garden bathed in spring breeze.

Tips

history

沐 originally meant specifically 'to wash one's hair' (per 《说文解字》: 沐,濯发也) — distinct from 浴 (yù, 'wash the body'), 沬 (mèi, 'wash the face'), and 洗 (xǐ, 'wash hands/feet'). Ancient Chinese had a precise word for washing each body part. Today these distinctions have faded; 沐 mostly survives in compounds like 沐浴 (mùyù, 'bathe') and the literary phrase 沐恩 (mù'ēn, 'to receive grace').

memory

氵 (water radical) + 木 (mù, 'tree' — also the phonetic). Picture water running over tree roots — a tree bathing. The 木 gives both meaning hint and the reading.