拇 meaning and stroke order
Thumb; big toe
How to write 拇, stroke by stroke
8 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 拇
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- thumb
- big toe
How 拇 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Hand.
扌 gives the meaning and 母 hints at the sound.
Radical: 扌 (hand), shared by 342 characters on this site.
How to remember 拇
拇 (mǔ) puts the hand radical 扌 next to 母 (mǔ, mother). Think of the thumb as the mother of the fingers on your hand, and 母 also gives the sound.
拇 rarely stands alone. It almost always appears in 拇指 (mǔzhǐ) or the more everyday 大拇指 (dàmuzhǐ). Example: 他对我竖起了大拇指。(Tā duì wǒ shù qǐ le dàmuzhǐ.) He gave me a thumbs up.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes write 姆 (mǔ, as in 保姆 bǎomǔ, nanny) instead of 拇. 姆 has the woman radical 女, but the thumb is part of the hand, so use 扌. Also note that in 大拇指 the 拇 is often said lightly, as dàmuzhǐ.
Common words with 拇
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 拇指 | mǔzhǐ | thumb; big toe | |
| 大拇指 | Dàmuzhǐ | thumb |
拇 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 拇
How many strokes are in 拇?
拇 is written with 8 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 拇 mean?
拇 (mǔ) means thumb; big toe. A common word with it is 拇指 (mǔzhǐ), meaning "thumb; big toe".
How do you pronounce 拇?
拇 is pronounced mǔ, in the third tone (dipping).
What is the radical of 拇?
The radical of 拇 is 扌, which carries the idea of "hand". Dictionaries list 拇 under this radical.
How do you say big toe in Chinese?
You can say 大脚趾 (dà jiǎozhǐ) or 脚拇指 (jiǎo mǔzhǐ). 拇指 by itself usually means the thumb unless the context is about feet.
What does 竖大拇指 mean?
竖大拇指 (shù dàmuzhǐ) means to give a thumbs up. It is a common way to praise someone or show approval, just like in English.