默

mò
adjective #6,931

Meanings

  1. 1 silent
  2. 2 to write from memory

Examples

HSK 4
Tā mòmò de kànzhe yíqiè fāshēng.
He silently watched everything unfold.
HSK 4
Tā de yōumògǎn ràng dàjiā dōu xiào le.
His sense of humor makes everyone laugh.
HSK 5
Tīngdào xiāoxi hòu, dàjiā dōu chénmò le.
After hearing the news, everyone fell silent.

Tips

memory
黑 (black) + 犬 (dog) - a black dog sitting silently; 幽默 is a loanword for 'humor'

Components

radical
黑 hēi
black; dark
Left component - 黑 is both the indexing radical and phonetic (hēi → mò, with significant drift but the rime preserved in older readings). 默 is to keep silent, to hold one's tongue darkly, and the 黑 anchors the 'darkness' image. The same phonetic drives 墨 (ink - black liquid), keeping the visual link between blackness and the mò-rime.
semantic
犬 quǎn
dog
Dog on the right - a second semantic, supplying the original scene. 犬 is itself a stylised dog with a cocked tail. The traditional reading: a dog stalking silently at night in the dark - the source of 默 'silent'. The pairing fixes the picture, with the dog hushed under cover of 黑 (darkness).

Stroke Order

默 mò