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母爱 (mǔ ài) — mother's love; maternal love

Definition

noun
mother's lovematernal love

Examples

  • 母爱。
    Wǒ yǒng yuǎn bú huì wàng jì mǔ qīn de mǔ ài.
    I will never forget my mother's love.
  • 母爱。
    mǔ ài Shì shì jiè shàng zuì wěi dà de ài.
    Maternal love is the greatest love in the world.
  • 母爱。
    Tā yòng zì jǐ de xíng dòng biǎo dá le duì hái zi de mǔ ài.
    She expressed her love for her child through her actions.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

母mǔmother
爱àilove

母 points to a mother and 爱 to love, together naming a mother's love.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 母 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 愛; 爱 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
心心xīnheart
Sound part声符shēngfú
旡
旡jì愛ài
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

For the traditional form 愛, an older shape paired 心 (heart) with 旡 as its sound part; later a foot-like 夊 was added below. The simplified 爱 is a later variant that replaces the lower part with 友.

Open 爱 →
Appears in
Emotions & FeelingsFamily & Kinship

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