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墨 (mò) — ink stick (solid ink for calligraphy); Chinese ink (after grinding; ink used in writing and painting)

Definition

墨 (mò) refers to the solid ink stick ground on an inkstone for calligraphy and painting — distinct from 墨水, the liquid bottled ink for everyday writing. It also names the dark ink itself once ground.

noun
ink stick (solid ink for calligraphy)Chinese ink (after grinding; ink used in writing and painting)
Measure word · 块
Easily confused

Examples

  • 墨“”。
    Zhè wèi shū fǎ jiā yòng mò xiě le yí gè "fú" zì.
    This calligrapher wrote the character 'fu' using ink.
  • 墨？。
    Nǐ mǎi de shì nǎ kuài mò? zhì liàng kàn qǐ lái bú cuò.
    Which ink stick did you buy? The quality looks good.
  • ，墨。
    Yán mó shí, mò hé shuǐ de bǐ lì yào shì zhōng.
    When grinding ink, the proportion of ink to ink (墨) ratio should be moderate.

Origin

Sound + meaning
六书liùshū
形声xíngshēng

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
土土tǔsoil
Sound part声符shēngfú
黑
黑hēi墨mò
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

墨 is built from 土 (soil) and 黑, with 黑 giving the sound.

Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Reading & Writing

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.