majestic

Original meaning: 

ears of a grain plant

Depicts the ripe drooping ears of a grain stalk (). was later added as a decorative mark. Based on the original meaning "ears of a grain plant". The meaning of this character has shifted over time and now means "majestic".

Components
禾 iconic component

  Iconic component

  

grain stalk

◎ iconic component

  Iconic component

  

characterless component

Depicts the ripe drooping ear of a grain stalk.

彡 distinguishing component

  Distinguishing component

shān

  

hair

Used here as a decorative mark.

Evolution

穆 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
穆 Bronze script Mid Western Zhou (~900 BC)

Bronze script

Mid Western Zhou (~900 BC)
穆 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
穆 Clerical script Western Jin dynasty (266-316 AD)

Clerical script

Western Jin dynasty (266-316 AD)
穆 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

 

majestic, solemn, reverent; calm; solemn; reverent; burial position in an ancestral tomb (old); old variant of

 

surname Mu

Most common words with 穆
Freq.
Word
Meaning

穆斯林

Muslim

solemn

穆罕默德

Mohammed (c. 570-632), central figure of Islam and prophet of God

珠穆朗玛峰

Mt Everest

穆沙拉夫

Pervez Musharraf (1943-), Pakistani general and politician, president 2001-2008

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*m(r)iwk

mjuwk

harmonious


Statistics

Not found in HSK word list

Appears in 5.1738% of movies

1950th most common character in movies

1683rd most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

16

Unicode

U+7A46

Shuowen

“穆,禾也。从禾,聲。”


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