木

See also: ホ and 禾

Translingual

Stroke order

Etymology

Pictogram (象形) – a tree: branches on top, roots on the bottom (more visible in earlier forms).

Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Large seal script	Small seal script

Han character

木 (radical 75 木+0, 4 strokes, cangjie input 木 (D), four-corner 4090₀)

1. tree
2. wood, lumber
3. wooden

Derived characters

• Index:Chinese radical/木
• 牀 床 雧 集

Related characters

• 朿 耒

See also

• 禾 穼 罙

References

• KangXi: page 509, character 1
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 14415
• Dae Jaweon: page 888, character 13
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 2, page 1149, character 6
• Unihan data for U+6728

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Cantonese

Hanzi

木 (Jyutping muk6, Yale muk6)

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Hakka

Hanzi

木 (POJ muk, Guangdong muk⁷, Hagfa Pinyim mug5)

References

• CCDICT (Chineselanguage.org)
• Academia Sinica - Hakka-English Dictionary
• Lau, Chun-fat. Hakka Pinyin Dictionary (Chinese). Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1997 (Chinese IME supplement) ISBN 962-201-750-9.

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Japanese

Kanji

木

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

• Goon: もく (moku)
• Kan’on: ぼく (boku)
• Kun: き (ki), け (ke) (obsolete), こ (ko) (obsolete)
• Nanori: ぐ (gu), も (mo), もと (moto)

Etymology 1

/ki₂/: [kɨ], from [ki]

From Old Japanese. Likely developed from fusion of older form ko + い (i, emphatic nominative particle), similar to the sound changes at work in 神 in the shift from kamu to kami.

Now the modern Japanese word.

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• IPA^(key): [ki]

Noun

木 (hiragana き, romaji ki)

1. a tree; a shrub
2. wood, timber, lumber
3. (graph theory, computer science) a tree (data structure)

Derived terms

• 猿も木から落ちる (さるもきからおちる, ​saru mo ki kara ochiru): “even monkeys fall from trees”, i.e. even experts make mistakes

Etymology 2

Old Japanese. Possibly an intermediate form. Obsolete in modern Japanese, and never found in isolation; remains in certain place names. Even in ancient times, its use was apparently limited to eastern dialects.

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• IPA^(key): [ke̞]

Noun

木 (hiragana け, romaji ke)

1. a tree

   麻都能氣乃 奈美多流美礼波 伊波妣等乃 和例乎美於久流等 多々理之母己呂

   松の木の 並みたる見れば 家人の 我れを見送ると 立たりしもころ
   まつのけの なみたるみれば いはびとの われをみおくると たたりしもころ
   Matsu no ke no / namitaru mireba / iwabito no / ware o miokuru to / tatari shi mokoro

   Looking at the pine trees all in a row, they were just like the people from the household standing to see me off

Etymology 3

/ko₂/: [kə], from [ko̞]

Old Japanese. Likely the original form. Obsolete in modern Japanese, and never found in isolation; only found in compounds and certain idioms.

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• IPA^(key): [ko̞]

Noun

木 (hiragana こ, romaji ko)

1. a tree

Derived terms

Derived terms

木高し (こだかし, ​kodakashi) 木霊 (こだま, ​kodama) 木隠れ (こがくれ, ​kogakure) 木陰 (こかげ, ​kokage) 木の葉 (このは, ​konoha) 木立 (こだち, ​kodachi)

Etymology 4

From Middle Chinese 木 (muwk). The goon reading, so likely the original borrowing. Compare modern Cantonese 木 (muk⁶).

Pronunciation

• On'yomi
• IPA^(key): [mo̞kɯᵝ]

Noun

木 (hiragana もく, romaji moku)

1. a tree
2. short for 木曜日 (​Mokuyōbi): Thursday

   When written in romaji, often capitalized as ​Moku.

3. wood grain

   Often written 杢.

Derived terms

Derived terms

Etymology 5

From Middle Chinese 木. The kan'on reading, so likely a later borrowing. Compare literary Min Nan 木 (bo̍k).

Pronunciation

• On'yomi
• IPA^(key): [bo̞kɯᵝ]

Adjective

木 (-na inflection, hiragana ぼく, romaji boku)

1. (derogatory) wooden, as of a person's character or behavior
2. (derogatory) wooden, as of a person's mental abilities: blockheaded, stupid, dimwitted

Noun

木 (hiragana ぼく, romaji boku)

1. a tree; more specifically, a living tree
2. the bent and gnarled trunk or roots of an old tree
3. wood, lumber
4. something made of wood
5. in ancient China, a wooden musical instrument

Derived terms

Derived terms

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Korean

Hanja

木 (mok)
Eumhun:

• Sound (hangeul): 목 (revised: mok, McCune-Reischauer: mok, Yale: mok)

• Name (hangeul): 나무 (revised: namu, McCune-Reischauer: namu, Yale: namu)

1. (나무 목, namu-): wood
2. (as an abbreviation) Thursday

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Mandarin

Hanzi

木 (Pinyin mù (mu4), shù (shu4), Wade-Giles mu⁴, shu⁴)

Noun

木 (traditional and simplified, Pinyin mù)

1. tree
2. wood

Adjective

木 (traditional and simplified, Pinyin mù)

1. wooden
2. simple, plain
3. numb

Compounds

• 木板
• 木版
• 木版画
• 木棒
• 木本
• 木本水源
• 木本植物
• 木材
• 木柴
• 木船
• 木呆呆, 木呆呆的
• 木雕
• 木雕泥塑
• 木耳
• 木筏
• 木芙蓉
• 木工
• 木瓜
• 木管乐器
• 木棍
• 木屐
• 木简
• 木浆
• 木匠
• 木结构
• 木刻
• 木立
• 木莲
• 木料
• 木螺丝
• 木马
• 木马计
• 木棉
• 木模, 木模儿
• 木乃伊
• 木讷
• 木牛流马
• 木偶
• 木偶片儿
• 木偶片
• 木偶戏
• 木排
• 木器
• 木琴
• 木然
• 木人石心
• 木塞, 木塞儿
• 木石
• 木梳
• 木炭
• 木炭画
• 木头
• 木头人儿
• 木纹
• 木屋
• 木犀, 木樨
• 木星
• 木叶蝶
• 木已成舟
• 木鱼, 木鱼儿
• 木桩

References

• "木" (in Mandarin/English), MDBG English to Chinese dictionary ( Based on CC-CEDICT ). URL accessed on 2014-02-21.

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Middle Chinese

Han character

木 (*muk)

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Min Nan

Hanzi

木 (TLPA bo̍k (bok⁸), ba̍k (bak⁸))

References

• Taiwan Min Nan Common Words Dictionary (臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典)

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Vietnamese

Han character

木 (mộc, móc, mọc, mốc, mục)