摸黑 (mō hēi) — to grope in the dark; to do something in the dark; (colloquial) at dusk; in dim light

Definition

A colloquial verb meaning to do something in the dark or at dusk, without proper light. It is written as one unit but the verb-object pair splits for aspect markers (摸了一个小时的黑).

verb
to grope in the darkto do something in the dark(colloquial) at duskin dim light

Examples

  • 摸黑，。
    Tā mō hēi zǒu jìn fáng jiān, méi yǒu kāi dēng.
    He groped his way into the room without turning on the light.
  • ，。
    Zuó wǎn tíng diàn, wǒ men mō le yí gè xiǎo shí de hēi cái zhǎo dào là zhú.
    Last night the power went out; we groped in the dark for an hour before finding candles.
  • 摸黑，。
    mō hēi Gǎn lù, zhōng yú zài tiān liàng qián dào le cūn zi.
    Traveling in the dark, we finally reached the village before dawn.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

摸mōgrope
黑hēidarkness

摸 'grope' and 黑 'darkness' combine to mean grope in the dark.

Characters in this word

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
手手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
莫
莫mò摸mō
Same sound today

摸 pairs 手 (hand) with 莫; 手 shows the meaning is about a hand action, and 莫 gives the sound.

Open 摸 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 黑 seems to come from drawing a head marked with dots, usually read as facial tattoos.

Open 黑 →

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