How to Write 泖 (mǎo) — Meaning “Mao (a name for a river or lake)”

Imagine a river (氵) flowing past a rabbit since 卯 is associated with the rabbit in the Chinese zodiac. This mental picture of a river by a rabbit helps you link the water radical with the sound mǎo.

Write the water radical first: dot, dot, lift (a single stroke). Then write 卯: left to right starting with the left vertical stroke (撇), then the horizontal fold, then right vertical stroke (竖), and finally the right curving stroke (弯钩). A common mistake is making the 卯 part too wide or mixing up the order of its strokes.

泖 has a phonetic component 卯, while 㳄 (cì) has 欠 (to owe) and means "saliva" — a rare character. 汊 (chà) has 又 (again) and means a river branch or fork. In writing, note that 泖's right side ends with a downward hook, whereas 汊 ends with a simple stroke.

泖 is almost exclusively used in place names, such as 泖河 (Mǎo Hé, a river) or 泖湖 (Mǎo Hú, a lake) in China. It does not appear in everyday vocabulary or HSK lists, and its usage is mainly limited to historical or geographic references.

Common words containing 泖 include: 泖河 (mǎo hé) — Mao River; 泖湖 (mǎo hú) — Mao Lake; 泖港 (mǎo gǎng) — Maogang (a place name).