眸

móu
noun #28,761

Meanings

  1. 1 pupil of the eye
  2. 2 eye

Examples

HSK 7-9
Tā de móu zhōng shǎnshuò zhe zhìhuì de guāngmáng.
Wisdom gleamed in her eyes.
HSK 7-9
Tā shēnsuì de móuzi ràng rén nányǐ-wànghuái.
His deep, penetrating eyes were unforgettable.

Tips

register
眸 is a literary and poetic word for the eye, rarely used in everyday spoken Chinese. It is common in novels, poetry, and song lyrics to evoke depth and expressiveness.

Components

radical
目 mù
eye
Eye radical on the left, the indexing radical. It anchors 眸 firmly in the sight family with 看 look, 睛 pupil, 瞳 pupil. The whole character means 'pupil of the eye', and the radical contributes the literal organ.
phonetic
牟 móu
to seek; ox-cry (here phonetic)
Right side 牟 supplies the móu reading exactly. Standalone 牟 originally pictured an ox lowing, then drifted to 'to seek'. Here read it purely as a sound clue - its semantic ox-and-cry image plays no role in the meaning 'pupil'.

Stroke Order

眸 móu