The character 木 (mù): tree

On a cream ground, the character 木 in dark brown stands in the middle, against a soft patch of pale blue sky. Above it, not touching, a rounded green canopy of dense foliage, lighter at the top. Below, a low mound of brown earth from which pale roots spread out in a fan, and the foot of the character's upright stops just above it. The character is a horizontal bar, an upright through it, and two strokes sweeping down to left and right.

Pronunciation: mù
Strokes: 4
Radical: 木

What it means

(bound form) tree; (bound form) wood; unresponsive; numb; wooden

Where its shape comes from

A whole tree: the branches reaching up, the roots spreading down, both of them easier to make out in the older forms. Xu Shen described it as a compound character; the philologist Wang Yun corrected him as early as the nineteenth century, since it is a pictogram drawn in one piece.

Source: Xu Shen, Shuowen Jiezi (121 CE); Wang Yun, Shuowen Shili (nineteenth century); the Chinese University of Hong Kong character database.

How it used to be written

Oracle bone script 商
Clerical script 東漢
See all 13 forms

Forms, sources and dates: the 字形演變 database of 小學堂, Academia Sinica, public domain (CC0).

A way to remember it

The vertical stroke is the trunk, the crossbar is the branches, and the two slanting strokes at the bottom are the roots spreading out into the soil. Picture the tree standing on those roots and the shape holds together on its own.

This is a memory aid, not the origin of the character.

Words it appears in

树木 shù mù · HSK5 tree
木头 mù tou · HSK5 wood; log; CL:塊|块[kuai4],根[gen1]; (fig.) blockhead; dolt; slow-witted
木材 mù cái · HSK6 wood
木马 mù mǎ wooden horse; rocking horse; vaulting horse (gymnastics); trojan horse (computing)
麻木 má mù numb; insensitive; apathetic
木板 mù bǎn slab; board; plank; CL:張|张[zhang1],塊|块[kuai4]

Writing it

See the stroke order of 木, animated stroke by stroke.