拇

拇 U+62C7, 拇 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-62C7 ← 拆 [U+62C6] CJK Unified Ideographs 拈 → [U+62C8]

Translingual

Han character

拇 (Kangxi radical 64, 手+5, 8 strokes, cangjie input 手田卜戈 (QWYI), four-corner 5705₀, composition ⿰扌母)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 424, character 22
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 11944
• Dae Jaweon: page 773, character 3
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 1862, character 5
• Unihan data for U+62C7

Chinese

simp. and trad.		拇
alternative forms		𧿹

Glyph origin

Characters in the same phonetic series (母) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
脢	*mɯːs, *mɯː, *mɯːs
挴	*mlɯːʔ, *mɯːʔ
海	*hmlɯːʔ
毐	*ʔmɯː, *ʔmɯːʔ
呣	*mɯ
拇	*mɯʔ
母	*mɯʔ
胟	*mɯʔ
姆	*mɯʔ, *mɯs, *maːʔ
畮	*mɯʔ
踇	*mɯʔ
苺	*mɯs, *mɯːʔ, *mɯːs
莓	*mɯs, *mɯː, *mɯːs
敏	*mrɯʔ, *mrɯŋʔ
鰵	*mrɯŋʔ
慜	*mrɯŋʔ
毋	*ma
梅	*mɯː
酶	*mɯː
鋂	*mɯː
每	*mɯːʔ
毎	*mɯːs
痗	*mɯːs, *hmɯːs
晦	*hmɯːs
誨	*hmɯːs
悔	*hmɯːʔ, *hmɯːs
霉	*mrɯl

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *mɯʔ): semantic 扌 + phonetic 母 (OC *mɯʔ).

Etymology

Sino-Tibetan; compare Proto-Loloish *C-ma³ (“thumb”) (Schuessler, 2007), as well as Burmese မ (ma., “main; feminine suffix”).

Possibly related to 母 (OC *mɯʔ, “mother”); compare Proto-Loloish *C-ma³ (“female suffix”), *ʔəC-ma³ (“mother”), Zhuang mehfwngz (“thumb”), derived from meh (“mother”).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): mǔ (mu³)

  (Zhuyin): ㄇㄨˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): mou⁵
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): bió / bó͘ / bó / bú
• Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ¹mu; ¹m

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: mǔ
    • Zhuyin: ㄇㄨˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: mǔ
    • Wade–Giles: mu³
    • Yale: mǔ
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: muu
    • Palladius: му (mu)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mu²¹⁴/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: mou⁵
    • Yale: móuh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: mou⁵
    • Guangdong Romanization: mou⁵
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mou̯¹³/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bió
    • Tâi-lô: bió
    • Phofsit Daibuun: bioir
    • Sinological IPA (Quanzhou): /bio⁵⁵⁴/
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bó͘
    • Tâi-lô: bóo
    • Phofsit Daibuun: bor
    • Sinological IPA (Xiamen): /bɔ⁵³/
  • (Hokkien: variant in Taiwan, Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bó
    • Tâi-lô: bó
    • Phofsit Daibuun: boir
    • Sinological IPA (Kaohsiung): /bɤ⁴¹/
    • Sinological IPA (Taipei, Zhangzhou): /bo⁵³/
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou, General Taiwanese, Xiamen)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bú
    • Tâi-lô: bú
    • Phofsit Daibuun: buo
    • Sinological IPA (Taipei, Xiamen): /bu⁵³/
    • Sinological IPA (Kaohsiung): /bu⁴¹/
    • Sinological IPA (Quanzhou): /bu⁵⁵⁴/

Note:

• bió/bó͘ - literary;
• bó/bú - vernacular.

• Wu
  • (Northern: Shanghai)
    • Wugniu: ¹mu; ¹m
    • MiniDict: 'mu^平; 'm^平
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ¹'mu; ¹'mm
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /mu⁵³/, /m̩⁵³/

---

• Middle Chinese: muwX

Rime
Character	拇
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	明 (4)
Final (韻)	侯 (137)
Tone (調)	Rising (X)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	I
Fanqie	莫厚切
Baxter	muwX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/məuX/
Pan Wuyun	/məuX/
Shao Rongfen	/məuX/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/məwX/
Li Rong	/muX/
Wang Li	/məuX/
Bernhard Karlgren	/mə̯uX/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	mǒu
Expected Cantonese Reflex	mau5

• Old Chinese

  (Zhengzhang): /*mɯʔ/

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	拇
Reading #	1/1
No.	9287
Phonetic component	母
Rime group	之
Rime subdivision	0
Corresponding MC rime	母
Old Chinese	/*mɯʔ/

Definitions

拇

1. (anatomy) thumb
2. (anatomy) big toe

Compounds

• 二拇指 (èrmǔzhǐ)
• 大拇哥 (dàmǔgē)
• 大拇指 (dàmǔzhǐ)
• 大拇指頭 / 大拇指头 (dàmǔzhǐtou)
• 小拇指 (xiǎomǔzhǐ)
• 拇印
• 拇戰 / 拇战
• 拇指 (mǔzhǐ)
• 拇趾 (mǔzhǐ)
• 拇量
• 挑大拇哥
• 駢拇枝指 / 骈拇枝指

Japanese

Kanji

拇

(Hyōgai kanji)

1. thumb

Readings

• Go-on: む (mu)、も (mo)
• Kan-on: ぼう (bō)
• Kan’yō-on: ぼ (bo)
• Kun: おやゆび (oyayubi)

References

• “^▲拇”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[1] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2025

Korean

Hanja

拇 (eum 무 (mu))

1. thumb
2. big toe

Vietnamese

Han character

拇: Hán Nôm readings: mẫu

1. This term needs a translation to English(rs=手05). Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.