母

Derived characters

 * Appendix:Chinese radical/毋

Related characters

 * (See glyph origin)

Glyph origin
Differentiated form of with the addition of distinguishing dots. In the early oracle bone texts both words and 母 were written as.

Etymology
From.

Definitions

 * 1) mother
 * 2)  female
 * 3)  female
 * 4) pertaining to origin
 * 1)  female
 * 2)  female
 * 3) pertaining to origin
 * 1)  female
 * 2)  female
 * 3) pertaining to origin
 * 1)  female
 * 2) pertaining to origin
 * 1)  female
 * 2) pertaining to origin

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

Etymology 1
From.



Medial  regularly changes to , resulting in  → , the expected final form; see hawa below. This form first appears in the. However, likely due to spelling influence or reduplication associations, the earlier resurfaced in the late 16th century towards the end of the, with both forms seen until recent times, when hawa falls into disuse. Initial  regularly becomes, resulting in modern.

Noun

 * 1) mother

Usage notes

 * 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 are preferred.
 * This term is sometimes used in objective narrations, but for this purpose, is more common.

Etymology 2
From, the phonologically expected development. See etymology for haha above for details.

Noun

 * 1)  mother

Usage notes
Obsolete in mainstream 🇨🇬. May persist in dialects.

Etymology 3
From. Possibly an abbreviation of haha, or possibly the original form.

Noun

 * 1)  mother

Usage notes
Not found in isolation, only found in compounds. Obsolete and unused in modern 🇨🇬.

Etymology 4
From. Obsolete and unused in modern 🇨🇬. Already falling into disuse by the writing of the  in 759, where it is only found in pieces written in eastern dialects. Possibly cognate with 🇨🇬,.

Noun

 * 1)  mother

Etymology 5
From. Obsolete and unused in modern 🇨🇬. Appears to be an alteration from amo above.

Noun

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

Etymology 6
. One theory holds that this is a corrupted and abbreviated form of, a term to refer to or address someone else's wife (now extremely formal, but much more everyday in the ), possibly influenced by children's speech:

→ →  →

Noun

 * 1)  mommy, mummy
 * 2)  wife
 * Seen in the 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.
 * Seen in the 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.

Etymology 7
Alteration of kaka : →  →

Noun

 * 1) mother

Usage notes
Almost never seen in isolation. Most commonly seen with honorific prefix o- and honorific suffix -san, as.

Etymology
From.

Etymology
From.