How to Write 母 (mǔ) — Meaning “Mother; female.”

Imagine a mother holding two children inside her arms — the outer box is her embrace, and the two dots are her children. This visual makes it easy to recall the shape and the meaning 'mother'.

The correct stroke order is: vertical fold, horizontal fold hook, dot, dot, then the bottom horizontal last. A common mistake is writing the bottom horizontal too early or placing the two dots too low — they should sit inside the frame, not touch the bottom line.

The character 每 has an extra horizontal stroke and a left-falling stroke on top, like a roof covering 母. While 母 means 'mother', 每 means 'every' or 'each'. Visually, if you see a slanted top line above the 母 shape, it is 每.

母 appears in formal family terms like 母亲 (mother) and 父母 (parents), and also in 字母 (alphabet letter). Culturally, it is respected and appears in phrases like 母校 (alma mater) meaning 'mother school', showing a sense of nurturing connection.

Common words containing 母 include: 母亲 (mǔ qīn) — Mother.; 父母 (fù mǔ) — Parents; 字母 (zì mǔ) — letter (of an alphabet).