母

母 U+6BCD, 母 ← 毌[U+6BCC] CJK Unified Ideographs 毎 →[U+6BCE] ⺟ U+2E9F, ⺟ ← ⺞[U+2E9E] CJK Radicals Supplement ⺠ →[U+2EA0] Stroke order Stroke order

母 (Kangxi radical 80, 毋+1, 5 strokes, Cangjie input 田卜戈 (WYI), four-corner 77500, composition ⿻⿻𠃋𠃌⿻⺀一)

• Appendix:Chinese radical/毋
• 㑄, 呣, 坶, 姆, 𡥓, 㟂, 𢘃, 拇, 𣳠, 𤝕, 乸, 栂, 𣭇, 牳, 𭹃, 胟, 𤵝, 𥎳, 砪, 䍭, 𧉯, 𧰷, 𧿹, 𨈶, 𨱱, 鉧(𬭁), 𩶋
• 㝀, 𨾥, 䳇, 𠰔, 𡥘, 𢘓, 袰, 𧦥, 貫, 𡴋, 苺, 𣳗, 𤯟, 𦊏, 𭑐, 𥬦, 𬙰, 𫕢, 𣚺, 㺙

• 毋 (See glyph origin)

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 588, character 25
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 16723
• Dae Jaweon: page 980, character 32
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2380, character 3
• Unihan data for U+6BCD

• 母 on Wikidata.Wikidata

simp. and trad. 母

Differentiated form of 女 with the addition of distinguishing dots. In the early oracle bone texts both words 女 (OC *naʔ, *nas, “woman”) and 母 were written as 女 (Yao, 1989, Liu, 2011, Huang, 2014). Part of this character appears in 乳.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *məʔ (“mother”).

母

1. mother Antonym: 父 父母 ― fùmǔ ― father and mother 母子 ― mǔzǐ ― mother and son
2. Used to address a female elder member of a family. Antonym: 父 姑母 ― gūmǔ ― father’s sister 祖母 ― zǔmǔ ― grandmother
3. (of animal) female Synonym: 雌 (cí) Antonym: 公 (gōng) 母牛 ― mǔniú ― female cow
4. (figuratively, of instruments, tools, or connectors) female
5. pertaining to origin 母校 ― mǔxiào ― alma mater
6. a surname

• “母”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎[2], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014-
• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A02098

(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

• Go-on: む (mu)、も (mo)
• Kan-on: ぼう (bō)
• Kan’yō-on: ぼ (bo, Jōyō)
• Kun: はは (haha, 母, Jōyō)←はは (fafa, 母, historical)、はわ (hawa, 母)←はは (fafa, 母, historical)、は (ha, 母)、あも (amo, 母)、おも (omo, 母)、かか (kaka, 母)、かあ (kā, 母)

In isolation, the character 母 has 5 strokes in modern Japanese – it is not simplified. In shinjitai compound characters, such as 毎 or 海, it is simplified to 4 strokes, as 毋. In hyōgaiji characters such as 姆, however, the component is not simplified.

• 嚊, 嬶

Kanji in this term 母 ははGrade: 2 kun’yomi

From Old Japanese papa,[1] in turn traced to Proto-Japonic *papa.

/haha/: */papa/ → /fafa/ → /fawa/ → /fafa/ → /haha/.

First cited to a portion of the Shoku Nihongi dated to 729, with the phonetic spelling 婆婆 (papa).[1]

Medial /f/ [ɸ] regularly changes to /w/ [ɰᵝ], resulting in /fawa/ → /hawa/, the expected final form; see hawa below. This form first appears in the Heian period. However, likely due to spelling influence or reduplication associations, the earlier /fafa/ resurfaced in the late 16th century towards the end of the Muromachi period, with both forms seen until recent times, when hawa falls into disuse.[1] Initial /f-/ [ɸ] regularly becomes [h], resulting in modern [ha̠ha̠].

• (Tokyo) はは [háꜜhà] (Atamadaka – [1])[2][3]
• IPA(key): [ha̠ha̠]

母(はは) • (haha) ←はは (fafa)?

1. mother 織(お)田(だ)信(のぶ)長(なが)の母(はは)は謎(なぞ)が多(おお)い。Oda Nobunaga no haha wa nazo ga ōi.Oda Nobunaga’s mother was a mysterious woman.

• This term conveys neither positive nor negative connotations. However, using it to describe someone the speaker knows personally is often considered lacking respect, where more polite forms like お母(かあ)さん (okāsan) are preferred.
• This term is sometimes used in objective narrations, but for this purpose, 母(はは)親(おや) (hahaoya) is more common.

• 父(ちち) (chichi, “father”)

Kanji in this term 母 はわGrade: 2 kun’yomi

From Old Japanese, the phonologically expected development. See etymology for haha above for details.

• IPA(key): [ha̠β̞a̠]

母(はわ) • (hawa) ←はは (fafa)?

1. (humble) mother

Obsolete in mainstream Japanese. May persist in dialects.

Kanji in this term 母 はGrade: 2 kun’yomi

From Old Japanese. Possibly an abbreviation of haha, or possibly the original form.

• IPA(key): [ha̠]

母(は) • (ha)

1. (obsolete) mother

Not found in isolation, only found in compounds. Obsolete and unused in modern Japanese.

Kanji in this term 母 あもGrade: 2 kun’yomi

From Old Japanese. Obsolete and unused in modern Japanese. Already falling into disuse by the writing of the Man’yōshū in 759, where it is only found in pieces written in eastern dialects.[4] Possibly cognate with Korean 엄마 (eomma, “mother”), 어머니 (eomeoni, “mother”).

• IPA(key): [a̠mo̞]

母(あも) • (amo)

1. (obsolete) mother

Kanji in this term 母 おもGrade: 2 kun’yomi

From Old Japanese. Obsolete and unused in modern Japanese. Appears to be an alteration from amo above.

• IPA(key): [o̞mo̞]

母(おも) • (omo)

1. (obsolete) mother
2. a woman who breastfeeds and raises a child in place of a parent: a wet nurse

• (wet nurse): 乳(う)母(ば) (uba)

Kanji in this term 母 かかGrade: 2 kun’yomi

Unknown. One theory holds that this is a corrupted and abbreviated form of 御方様 (okatasama), a term to refer to or address someone else’s wife (now extremely formal, but much more everyday in the Edo period), possibly influenced by children’s speech.[5]

/okatasama/ → /katasama/ → /kakasama/ → /kaka/

• IPA(key): [ka̠ka̠]

母(かか) • (kaka)

1. (childish) mommy, mummy
2. (obsolete) wife Seen in the Edo period among the lower socioeconomic classes. Used to refer both to one’s own wife when talking to others, and to refer to someone else’s wife.[4]

Kanji in this term 母 かあGrade: 2 kun’yomi

Alteration of kaka[4]: /kaka/ → /-kka/ → /kaː/

• IPA(key): [ka̠ː]

母(かあ) • (kā)

1. mother

Almost never seen in isolation. Most commonly seen with honorific prefix o- and honorific suffix -san, as お母(かあ)さん (okāsan).

• “母”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎[3] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015-2026

From Middle Chinese 母 (MC muwX).

Historical readings Dongguk Jeongun reading Dongguk Jeongun, 1448 무ᇢ〯 (Yale: mwǔw) Middle Korean Text Eumhun Gloss (hun) Reading Hunmong Jahoe, 1527[4] 어〮미〮 (Yale: émí) 모〯 (Yale: mwǒ)

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA(key): [mo̞(ː)]
• Phonetic hangul: [모(ː)]
  • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

母 (eumhun 어미 모 (eomi mo))

1. hanja form? of 모 (“mother”)

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [5]

From Middle Chinese 母 (MC muwX).

母 (mo2)

1. Denotes phonographic syllable mo2.

• Miyake (2003) p. 259

母: Hán Việt readings: mẫu[1][2] 母: Nôm readings: mẫu[1][2][3][4], mẹ[5]

1. chữ Hán form of mẫu (“mother”)