拇 (mǔ) is a Chinese character meaning “thumb”. It is written from 扌 (hand (radical form)) and 母 (mother), side by side, and takes 8 strokes.
Build the character for “thumb”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
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Structure
扌 + 母
Left–right structure
Structure from: 说文解字: 拇，將指也。从手母聲
Memory aid
The hand radical (扌) plus 母 mǔ, which also hands you the sound: 拇 mǔ, the thumb — the one finger the whole hand leans on.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
8 strokes
In real words
- 拇指mǔ zhǐthumb拇 = mǔspoken asmú zhǐ
- 拇印mǔ yìnthumbprint拇 = mǔ
Go deeper
All readings
thumb
thumb; big toe (used in compounds such as 拇指)
手上的第一根指头，也指脚的第一趾，多用于「拇指」。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 拇指mǔ zhǐthumb拇 = mǔspoken asmú zhǐ
- 拇印mǔ yìnthumbprint拇 = mǔ
Sound component
母 family exact
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 拇 mean?
拇 (mǔ) means thumb; big toe (used in compounds such as 拇指).
How do you pronounce 拇?
It is pronounced mǔ.
What parts is 拇 made of?
扌 (hand (radical form)) and 母 (mother), side by side. The recorded source is: 说文解字: 拇，將指也。从手母聲. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 拇 have?
8. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 拇?
手. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 拇?
Common ones are 拇指 and 拇印. The reading of 拇 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.