móuMóu

seek, get

Original meaning: the sound of a cow

Depicts a cow () with a stroke above to indicate the mooing of a cow. Based on the original meaning "the sound of a cow". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

Iconic component
characterless component

Indicates the mooing of a cow. Modern form looks like unrelated .

Iconic component
niú cow

Depicts the head of a cow.


Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 6 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangmu

說文解字

《說文》:“牟,牛鳴也。从牛,象其聲气从口出。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.93
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica