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卯

mǎo
noun #24,199

Meanings

  1. 1 4th Earthly Branch
  2. 2 the rabbit (in the Chinese zodiac)
  3. 3 5-7 a.m. (in the traditional Chinese timekeeping system)
  4. 4 mortise (woodworking term)

Examples

HSK 2
卯时是早上五点到七点。
Mǎo shí shì zǎoshang wǔ diǎn dào qī diǎn.
Mao hour is from 5 to 7 in the morning.
HSK 6
她生于卯年，属兔。
Tā shēngyú mǎo nián, shǔ tù.
She was born in the Year of the Rabbit.

Tips

culture
卯 (mǎo) is the 4th of the twelve Earthly Branches (地支), associated with the Rabbit and the hours 5 to 7 a.m. The twelve branches cycle through years, months, days, and two-hour periods in traditional Chinese timekeeping. 卯 also means a mortise joint in carpentry, giving us the phrase 卯榫 (mortise and tenon).

Components

radical
卩 jié
kneeling person; seal
The right 卩 is the indexing Kangxi radical. The opening-doors pictograph was reanalyzed so its right half matched 卩 (seal/kneeling person), placing 卯 in the seal-radical lookup family alongside 卵 - both share the 'doors flanked by 卩-shape' reanalysis.
pictograph
卯 mǎo
fourth earthly branch; rabbit-hour
Originally a pictograph of a gate or pair of doors opened wide at sunrise - the dawn imagery underlies its assignment to the rabbit-hour (5-7am). The left side preserves the original opening-doors silhouette and is too fused to split into independent pieces.

Stroke Order

卯 mǎo