How to Write 眽 (mò) — Meaning “to gaze”

Think of the sound 'mò' like 'more' – you want 'more' time to gaze at someone you love. Visualize the left side as an eye (目) and the right side as a little person leaning forward to get a closer look.

The left radical 目 is written first with its standard 5 strokes. The right side has a slanted top stroke, followed by a bent horizontal hook, and ends with a dot – be careful not to make the right part too tall or wide. A common mistake is confusing this right component with the one in 盹.

眽 means 'to gaze' especially with affection, while 相 (xiāng) means 'each other' or 'appearance' and uses the tree radical 木. 盹 (dǔn) means 'to doze' and uses the phonetic 屯 – so 眽 is about active looking, 相 is about mutual appearance, and 盹 is about sleeping.

眽 is very rare in everyday Chinese and mostly appears in classical poetry or literary phrases. It is often used in the reduplicated form 眽眽 (mò mò) to describe a loving or affectionate gaze, such as in 温情眽眽 (full of tender emotion).

Common words containing 眽 include: 眽眽 (mò mò) — gazing affectionately; 温情眽眽 (wēn qíng mò mò) — Full of tenderness or affectionate; 眽眽含情 (mò mò hán qíng) — full of tender affection.