默 (mò) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

默

mò[mo4]Tone 4

silent

HSK 4

Guru Deep Dive

English · silent

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:16

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (black) and right side (dog) must balance harmoniously; keep the vertical strokes straight and avoid making the right side too wide.

1. Meaning

silent, quiet

to write from memorydark, gloomy

Adjective / VerbNeutral#behavior#mind#communication

Sample Usage

他们默默地离开。
tāmen mòmò de líkāi.
They left silently.
背默生词
bèimò shēngcí
to recite and write new words from memory

2. Sound

/[moʊ̯⁵¹]/Tone: 51

默

mòmo4

`(51)

=mò

Initial Consonant

Type: Bilabial Nasal

Sounds like: m sound like in 'mother'

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Nasal resonance through nostrils.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Lips pressed together gently to build air pressure for the nasal, then relaxed.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -o vowel group

Sounds like: o rhymes with 'more' without the r

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'aw'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T4 (51)

5 → 1 (51)

4th Tone (High-Falling)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 4 starts high and drops sharply to the bottom of your vocal range, like saying 'No!' in anger or certainty.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the falling tone (Tone 4) with Tone 2 (rising) or Tone 3 (dipping). Make sure your voice drops immediately without dipping first.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A sharp, decisive downward chop with your hand, mirroring a stern command to be quiet.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 16 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (black) and right side (dog) must balance harmoniously; keep the vertical strokes straight and avoid making the right side too wide.

4. Components

Radical 黑 · Black Radical (black, dark)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 黑 (indicates darkness, lack of light or sound)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 犬 (original sound: quǎn)

A black dog (黑) hiding in the dark makes no sound, remaining completely silent (默).

黑 black / dark
犬 dog

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally combined elements indicating darkness and a barking or quiet canine. Over time, it came to represent silence, quietness, and writing from memory.

Semantic Evolution: From the concept of dark and quiet night shadows to abstract mental silence and writing text completely out of one's head (dictation/memory writing).

In educational contexts, '默' is frequently used for dictation tests where students write characters entirely from memory.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: モク / Kun: 黙.る

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

묵

Sound Shift Bridge: The root sound 'mo' mirrors historical pronunciations preserved across East Asian borrowing.

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Picture a black (黑) watchdog (犬) sitting in the dark night. It stays completely SILENT (默), guarding the house without making a single bark.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

默

mòsilentBase character meaning silent.

黓

yìdark/blackUses 弋 on the right instead of 犬.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

默默(mòmò)

Repeated character for 'silently / quietly', often used adverbially.

模(mó)

Has the wood radical (木) instead of black (黑), used in words like model or pattern.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

考试的时候，考场里非常[___]。

Clue: mò

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the complex structure of the '黑' top component with other radicals, or misapplying the fourth tone as a rising tone.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does 默 mean and how is it pronounced?

Production: How do you write the character for 'silent' (mò) using the black radical?

默mòsilent

Speed:

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