verb #31,924

Meanings

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

Examples

Mùyù zài yángguāng xià ràng rén gǎndào wēnnuǎn.
Bathing in sunlight makes one feel warm.
Wǒmen mù zhe chūnfēng zǒu zài huāyuánlǐ.
We walked through the garden bathed in spring breeze.

Tips

history
Ancient Chinese had a precise word for washing each body part. Today these distinctions have faded; mostly survives in compounds like 沐浴 (mùyù, 'bathe') and the literary phrase (mù'ēn, 'to receive grace').
memory
(water radical) + (mù, 'tree' — also the phonetic). Picture water running over tree roots — a tree bathing. The gives both meaning hint and the reading.

Components

radical
shuǐ
water (left-side form)
is left-side water and gives its core image — pouring or splashing water over the body to wash. Same radical heads , , — the full "washing" lexicon.
phonetic
tree; wood
gives the sound mù exactly, same tone. Pure phonetic; the tree meaning has no role. Same phonetic in mù (herd), mù (eye) — all sharing the -ù ending in old Chinese readings.

Stroke Order