摸

mō
verb HSK 5 #2,071

Meanings

  1. 1 to touch
  2. 2 to feel
  3. 3 to grope
  4. 4 to figure out

Examples

HSK 6
Tā mō le mō háizi de étóu.
She felt the child's forehead.
HSK 6
Tā zài hēi'àn zhōng mōsuǒ qiánjìn.
He groped his way forward in the dark.
HSK 7-9
Qǐng búyào mō zhǎnpǐn.
Please don't touch the exhibits.

Tips

usage
摸索 (mōsuǒ) means to grope/fumble or figuratively to figure out by trial and error. 摸不着头脑 means can't make heads or tails of it.

Components

radical
扌 shǒu
hand (radical form)
Left hand radical - side-form of 手, indexing radical for 摸. Marks 摸 as a hand-action verb. Same hand-radical family as 拿 (take), 推 (push), 抱 (hug), 抚 (caress), 按 (press). Touching is the most basic of these - feeling the surface of something with the fingertips.
phonetic
莫 mò
do not; sunset (phonetic)
Right phonetic 莫 - supplies the sound (mò → mō, just vowel-tone shift; the wider series gives 模 mó, 膜 mó, 漠 mò, 暮 mù). Itself originally pictured the sun (日) sinking among grass and trees, the moment of dusk. Faint semantic echo: in fading light you reach out and feel your way (摸) - hand-by-touch where the eyes fail.

Stroke Order

摸 mō