墨 meaning and stroke order
Ink stick; China ink; corporal punishment consisting of tattooing characters on the victim's forehead
How to write 墨, stroke by stroke
15 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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Meaning of 墨
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- ink stick
- China ink
- corporal punishment consisting of tattooing characters on the victim's forehead
How 墨 is built
Ideographic (compound meaning) character. Chalk made from black 黑 earth 土.
Radical: 土 (soil), shared by 183 characters on this site.
How to remember 墨
墨 (mò) is 黑 (hēi, black) sitting on top of 土 (tǔ, earth). Think of black earth pressed into a stick, which is what traditional Chinese ink was made from.
墨 means ink, especially the solid ink stick used in calligraphy, and it appears in words like 墨水 (mòshuǐ, ink) and 墨镜 (mòjìng, sunglasses). It is also short for Mexico, as in 墨西哥 (Mòxīgē). Example: 我的笔没有墨水了。 (Wǒ de bǐ méiyǒu mòshuǐ le.) My pen is out of ink.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes write just 黑 (hēi) and forget the 土 at the bottom, which changes the word from ink to black. Also note the tone: 墨 is fourth tone mò, not first tone like 黑 hēi.
Common words with 墨
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
墨 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 墨
How many strokes are in 墨?
墨 is written with 15 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 墨 mean?
墨 (mò) means ink stick; China ink; corporal punishment consisting of tattooing characters on the victim's forehead. A common word with it is 墨水 (mòshuǐ), meaning "ink".
How do you pronounce 墨?
墨 is pronounced mò, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 墨?
The radical of 墨 is 土, which carries the idea of "soil". Dictionaries list 墨 under this radical.
Is 墨 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 墨 is part of the HSK 6 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
Why are sunglasses called 墨镜 in Chinese?
镜 (jìng) means lens or glasses, and 墨 adds the idea of dark, ink-colored. So 墨镜 literally means ink-dark glasses.
What does 墨 mean in older Chinese texts about punishment?
In ancient China, 墨 was also the name of a punishment where characters were tattooed onto a person's forehead with ink. You will only see this sense in historical writing.