Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

木 (radical 75 木+0, 4 strokes, cangjie input 木 (D), four-corner 4090₀)

1. Kangxi radical #75, ⽊ ‎(“tree”).

Derived characters

• Index:Chinese radical/木
• 牀 床 雧 集 本

Related characters

• 朿 耒

See also

• 禾 穼 罙

References

• KangXi: page 509, character 1
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 14415
• Dae Jaweon: page 888, character 13
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 2, page 1149, character 6
• Unihan data for U+6728

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 木
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Bamboo and silk script	Large seal script	Small seal script

Pictogram (象形) – a tree: branches on top, roots on the bottom (more visible in earlier forms).

Etymology

No known cognate exists. It can perhaps be compared with Proto-Karen *məŋᴮ (“trunk (of a tree); firewood”) (Starostin) or Proto-Lolo-Burmese *ʔmuk (“stump (of a tree)”) (Schuessler, 2007).

The common Sino-Tibetan root for “tree; wood” is *siŋ ~ sik, represented by 薪 (OC *siŋ, “firewood”).

Pronunciation

Definitions

木

1. ^†tree

   Synonyms: 樹／树 (shù)

   樹木 / 树木  ―  shùmù  ―  tree

2. wood; timber

   木頭 / 木头  ―  mùtou  ―  log

3. wooden
   • 這張桌子是木的。 / 这张桌子是木的。  ―  Zhè zhāng zhuōzǐ shì mù de.  ―  This table is made of wood
4. simple; plain; slow; emotionless
   • 木訥 / 木讷  ―  mùnè  ―  plain spoken, slow and inarticulate
5. ^†coffin
   • 棺木  ―  guānmù  ―  coffin
   • 就木  ―  jiùmù  ―  to die (to enter one's coffin)
6. (Mandarin, neologism, slang) Eye dialect spelling of 沒.

   有木有  ―  yǒumùyǒu  ―  d'ya have…

7. numb

   麻木  ―  mámù  ―  numb, insensitive

   • 她手指凍木了。 / 她手指冻木了。  ―  Tā shǒuzhǐ dòng mù le.  ―  Her fingers were numb with cold.

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

• Goon: もく (moku)
• Kan’on: ぼく (boku)
• Kun: き (ki), け (ke) (obsolete), こ (ko) (obsolete)
• Nanori: ぐ (gu), も (mo), もと (moto)

Etymology 1

/ki₂/: [kɨ], from [ki]

From Old Japanese. Likely developed from fusion of older form ko + い ‎(i, emphatic nominative particle), similar to the sound changes at work in 神 in the shift from kamu to kami.

Now the modern Japanese word.

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• (Tokyo) き​ [kíꜜ] (Atamadaka - [1])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [kʲi]

Noun

木 ‎(hiragana き, romaji ki)

1. a tree; a shrub
2. wood, timber, lumber
3. (graph theory, computer science) a tree (data structure)

Idioms

• 猿 (さる)も木 (き)から落 (お)ちる ‎(saru mo ki kara ochiru): “even monkeys fall from trees”, i.e. even experts make mistakes

Etymology 2

Old Japanese. Possibly an intermediate form. Obsolete in modern Japanese, and never found in isolation; remains in certain place names. Even in ancient times, its use was apparently limited to eastern dialects.^[2]

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• IPA^(key): [ke̞]

Noun

木 ‎(hiragana け, romaji ke)

1. a tree

   麻都能氣乃 奈美多流美礼波 伊波妣等乃 和例乎美於久流等 多々理之母己呂‎^[3]

   松の木の 並みたる見れば 家人の 我れを見送ると 立たりしもころ
   まつのけの なみたるみれば いはびとの われをみおくると たたりしもころ
   Matsu no ke no / namitaru mireba / iwabito no / ware o miokuru to / tatari shi mokoro

   Looking at the pine trees all in a row, they were just like the people from the household standing to see me off

Etymology 3

/ko₂/: [kə], from [ko̞]

Old Japanese. Likely the original form. Obsolete in modern Japanese, and never found in isolation; only found in compounds and certain idioms.

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• IPA^(key): [ko̞]

Noun

木 ‎(hiragana こ, romaji ko)

1. a tree

Derived terms

Etymology 4

From Middle Chinese 木 (muwk). The goon reading, so likely the original borrowing. Compare modern Cantonese 木 (muk6).

Pronunciation

• On'yomi: Goon
• (Tokyo) も​く [móꜜkù] (Atamadaka - [1])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [mo̞kɯᵝ]

Noun

木 ‎(hiragana もく, romaji moku)

1. a tree
2. short for 木曜日 (​Mokuyōbi): Thursday

   When written in romaji, often capitalized as ​Moku.

3. wood grain

   Often written 杢.

Derived terms

Etymology 5

From Middle Chinese 木. The kan'on reading, so likely a later borrowing. Compare literary Min Nan 木 (bo̍k).

Pronunciation

• On'yomi: Kan'on
• (Tokyo) ぼく [bòkú] (Heiban - [0])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [bo̞kɯᵝ]

Adjective

木 ‎(-na inflection, hiragana ぼく, romaji boku)

1. (derogatory) wooden, as of a person's character or behavior
2. (derogatory) wooden, as of a person's mental abilities: blockheaded, stupid, dimwitted

Noun

木 ‎(hiragana ぼく, romaji boku)

1. a tree; more specifically, a living tree
2. the bent and gnarled trunk or roots of an old tree
3. wood, lumber
4. something made of wood
5. in ancient China, a wooden musical instrument

Derived terms

References

1. 1 2 3 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
2. ↑ 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
3. ↑ c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 20, poem 4375); text here

Korean

Hanja

木 • ‎(mok)
Eumhun:

• Sound (hangeul): 목 (revised: mok, McCune-Reischauer: mok, Yale: mok)

• Name (hangeul): 나무 (revised: namu, McCune-Reischauer: namu, Yale: namu)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

1. (나무 목, namu-): wood
2. (as an abbreviation) Thursday

Vietnamese

Han character

木 (mộc, móc, mọc, mốc, mục)

1. tree
2. wood
3. coffin
4. numbness
5. jackfruit: Mộc ba la　
6. rose of Sharon: Mộc cẩn
7. magnolia: Mộc lan
8. papaya: Mộc qua
9. the kudzu fruit: Mộc thự