冒 meaning in English
to emit; to give off; to send out (or up, forth); to brave; to face
Meaning of 冒
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- to emit; to give off; to send out (or up, forth)
- to brave; to face
- (bound form) reckless
- to falsely adopt (sb's identity etc); to feign
- (literary) to cover
- surname Mao
- old variant of 冒[mao4]
How to use 冒
On its own, 冒 often means something pours or rises out, like smoke, steam, or sweat. It also means to brave something, as in 冒雨 (mào yǔ, to brave the rain), and to falsely pose as someone, as in 冒充 (màochōng). Example: 锅里在冒热气。(Guō lǐ zài mào rè qì.) Steam is rising from the pot.
冒 (mào) has 目 (mù, eye) at the bottom with a covering shape on top, like a hat pulled down over the eyes. Picture someone charging forward with their eyes covered, braving danger and pushing out into the open.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 冒 with 冐 or write the bottom as 日 instead of 目. The bottom part is 目 with two inner strokes, and the top part is not 曰 sitting on it. Another common mix-up is with 帽 (mào, hat), which adds 巾 on the left.
冒 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
冒 mào · to emit · 9 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 冒.
| 感冒 | gǎnmào | to catch cold; (common) cold |
| 冒险 | màoxiǎn | to take risks; to take chances |
| 冒犯 | màofàn | to offend |
| 冒昧 | màomèi | bold; presumptuous |
| 冒充 | màochōng | to feign; to pretend to be |
| 假冒 | jiǎmào | to impersonate; to pose as (someone else) |
| 冒出来 | màochūlái | to emerge; to pop up; to spring forth; to appear from nowhere |
| 冒烟 | màoyān | to discharge smoke; to fume with rage |
| 冒牌 | màopái | fake; impostor |
| 冒牌货 | màopáihuò | fake goods; imitation |
| 傻冒 | shǎmào | variant of 傻帽[sha3 mao4] |
| 冒汗 | màohàn | to sweat |
Questions about 冒
What does 冒 mean?
冒 (mào) means "to emit; to give off; to send out (or up, forth); to brave; to face" and is used as a verb.
How do you write 冒?
冒 is made of 1 character: 冒 (9 strokes). That is 9 strokes in total.
Is 冒 an HSK word?
Yes. 冒 is on the HSK 5 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
Why does 感冒 (gǎnmào) mean to catch a cold?
感冒 is a fixed everyday word for a cold or catching a cold. It works as both a noun and a verb, as in 我感冒了 (wǒ gǎnmào le), I have a cold.
Is 冒昧 (màomèi) rude to say?
No. It is a polite, humble word used to soften a request, as in 冒昧问一下 (màomèi wèn yíxià), may I be so bold as to ask. You are apologizing in advance for being forward.