noun #34,773

Meanings

  1. 1 desert; vast and barren
  2. 2 unconcerned; indifferent

Examples

Sāhālā shāmò fēicháng dà.
The Sahara Desert is very large.
Tā duì biérén de gǎnshòu hěn lěngmò.
He is indifferent to others' feelings.

Tips

usage
沙漠 (shāmò) = desert, 冷漠 (lěngmò) = cold/indifferent, 漠不关心 (mò bù guānxīn) = completely unconcerned.

Components

radical
shuǐ
water (radical form of 水)
Three-drops water radical — the indexing element. Counterintuitive for a desert character, but the original sense was 'wide watery expanse,' generalized to any vast flatland. The extension from 'sheet of water' to 'sheet of sand' parallels the English 'sea of sand.'
phonetic
do not; none (here phonetic)
Right supplies the sound directly: mò → mò. Faint semantic resonance — pictured a sun setting between two clumps of grass, the dim moment when nothing can be seen clearly. The desert at dusk; the indifferent gaze of 冷漠. Same phonetic in , , , , .

Stroke Order