冒雨 (mào yǔ) — to brave the rain; to go out or do something de…

Definition

A set phrase (离合词) meaning to go out or do something despite the rain. Insert 着/了 between 冒 and 雨, as in 冒着雨 or 冒了雨.

verb

to brave the rainto go out or do something despite the rain

冒雨。
Tā mào yǔ qù yī yuàn kàn bìng.
He braved the rain to go to the hospital.
。
Tā mào zhe dà yǔ cóng gōng sī pǎo huí jiā.
She braved the heavy rain and ran home from the office.
冒雨，。
Jīn tiān mào yǔ chū mén, yī fu quán shī le.
Today I braved the rain to go out, and my clothes got completely wet.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

冒 means to brave or risk, and 雨 means rain, so the word describes going out despite the rain.

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.

冃目冒

Meaning part形符xíngfú

目目mùeyes

Sound part声符shēngfú

冃

冃mào冒mào

Same sound today

冒 was built from 冃, a hat used for the sound, plus 目, eyes, as the meaning part.

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

The shape 雨 is an old picture of a cloud with rain drops falling from it; the top line was added later.