ZHIZHI 知止 · LEARN CHINESE DAILY

hat

mào
12 strokes · 巾 (cloth radical) + 冒 (to cover/risk, sound mào) · HSK 2

Where 帽 comes from

冒 already drew a head with a covering over the eyes; adding the cloth radical 巾 made the covering explicitly textile. 帽 is the cloth that risks nothing and covers everything — the head's roof.

帽 in Chinese culture

Hats once encoded rank: officials' 乌纱帽 'black gauze hat' became the very word for holding office — 丢了乌纱帽 'losing the black gauze hat' still means getting fired from a government post. Modern 帽子 also means a label pinned on you: 扣帽子 is unfair accusation.

Example

帽子 màozi — hat

今天太阳大,戴帽子吧。
Jīntiān tàiyáng dà, dài màozi ba.
The sun is strong today — wear a hat.

How to remember it

Cloth 巾 that covers 冒 your head — a HAT.

帽子戏法 'hat trick' came straight from soccer commentary into Chinese — three goals, one borrowed idiom.

Same sound, different tones

1st māo
cat
2nd máo
fur
3rd mǎo
mortise
4th mào
hat

Words unlocked by 帽

帽子 màozi
hat
戴帽子 dài màozi
to wear a hat
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