HSK Level 3

mǒu

certain; some

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Example Sentences

某人说他很忙。

Mǒurén shuō tā hěn máng.

Someone said he was very busy.

某公司正在招聘员工。

Mǒugōngsī zhèngzài zhāopìn yuángōng.

A certain company is recruiting employees.

某地发生了地震。

Mǒudì fāshēngle dìzhèn.

An earthquake occurred in a certain place.

Synonyms

某个 (mǒu ge)

a certain

某人 (mǒu rén)

someone

Antonyms

具体 (jùtǐ)

specific

明确 (míngquè)

clear

Etymology & Components

The Chinese character 某 (mǒu) is a pictophonetic character, combining the phonetic component 莫 (mò) and the semantic component 幺 (yāo). The original meaning of 某 is "a certain person or thing", and it is often used as a pronoun to refer to someone or something unknown or unspecified.The phonetic component 莫 (mò) is a phonetic loan character, which means "not" or "without". It is composed of the radical 勿 (wù), which means "not", and the phonetic component 莫 (mò). The semantic component 幺 (yāo) is a pictographic character, which depicts a person with a stick in their hand. It is often used as a classifier for people, and it can also be used as a suffix to indicate a certain person or thing.The combination of the phonetic component 莫 (mò) and the semantic component 幺 (yāo) creates the character 某 (mǒu), which means "a certain person or thing". It is often used as a pronoun to refer to someone or something unknown or unspecified, and it can also be used as a noun to refer to a specific person or thing.In modern Chinese, 某 is often used in formal writing and speech. It is also used in some idioms and proverbs, such as 某某人 (mǒu mǒu rén), which means "a certain person", and 某事某地 (mǒu shì mǒu dì), which means "a certain event in a certain place".