毋

毋 (Kangxi radical 80, 毋+0, 4 strokes, cangjie input 田十 (WJ), four-corner 7750₀, composition ⿻⿻𠃋𠃌𠂇(GHTV) or ⿻⿻𠃋𠃌十(JK))

1. Kangxi radical #80, ⽏.

• Appendix:Chinese radical/毋
• 𥁉, 𣏭, 𩬍

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 588, character 23
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 16721
• Dae Jaweon: page 980, character 29
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2380, character 1
• Unihan data for U+6BCB

Historical forms of the character 毋
Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

In the oracle bone script, 母 (“mother”) was borrowed to represent this character. It was later specialized to distinguish it from “mother”, replacing the two dots with one stroke.

Cognate with 無 (OC *ma, “to not have”). Already in Zhou time, phonetically confused with and read like 無 (OC *ma).

Cognate with 唔 in Cantonese, Teochew and Hakka.

毋

1. (literary) do not, don't

   • 宜未雨而綢繆，毋臨渴而掘井。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     宜未雨而绸缪，毋临渴而掘井。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 朱子家訓 (The Familial Rules of Zhuzi)

     Yí wèi yǔ ér chóumóu, wú lín kě ér jué jǐng. [Pinyin]

     It is proper to bind [the window] tightly when it is not yet raining. Do not dig a well when you are about to be thirsty. (I.e., one should prepare before it is too late. See 未雨綢繆／未雨绸缪 (wèiyǔchóumóu) and 臨渴掘井／临渴掘井 (línkějuéjǐng).)

2. (literary or Hakka, Hokkien) not

   我毋捌字。 [Hokkien]  ―  Góa m̄ pat-lī. [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  I'm illiterate (literally: I don't know characters)

   • 趙王畏秦，欲毋行。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     赵王畏秦，欲毋行。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE

     Zhào wáng wèi qín, yù wú xíng. [Pinyin]

     The King of Zhao feared the state of Qin, and thus wanted to not travel to Qin.

   • 我毋是勇敢的人 [Taiwanese Hokkien, trad. and simp.]

     From: 2018, 一九四五 1945 (Theme of Raid on Takao), 滅火器 ( Fire EX.)

     góa m̄-sī ióng-kám ê lâng [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]

     I am not a person of courage

3. (literary) Alternative form of 無／无 (“to not have”)
4. a surname

• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A02097
• “Entry #818”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2023.

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji)

1. do not, must not, be not
2. "mother" radical

• Go-on: む (mu)
• Kan-on: ぶ (bu)
• Kun: ない (nai, 毋い); なかれ (nakare, 毋れ)

Not used in Japanese shinjitai in isolation – instead the unsimplified 母 is used – but simplified form is used universally in compound jōyō characters, such as 毎, 海.

However, not used in hyōgaiji, which are written in kyūjitai, such as 姆.

毋 • (mu) (hangeul 무, revised mu, McCune–Reischauer mu, Yale mu)

1. do not
2. not
3. surname
4. rad. 80

毋: Hán Việt readings: vô[1]

1. chữ Hán form of vô (“don't, no need”).