to feel with the hand

to touch; to stroke; to grope; to steal; to abstract

hand (扌) + sound mō (莫) = to feel or grope with the hand

The hand radical (扌) carries all the meaning here — reaching out, feeling, groping in the dark. 莫 contributes the sound mō rather than any image of searching.

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HandSemantic
NoPhonetic

她轻轻地了摸小猫的头。

tā qīng qīng de mō le mō xiǎo māo de tóu。

She gently stroked the little cat's head.

他在黑暗中索着找到了开关。

tā zài hēi àn zhōng mō suǒ zhe zhǎo dào le kāi guān。

He groped around in the dark and found the light switch.

Words with 摸

难以捉摸

nán yǐ zhuō mō

elusive

顺藤摸瓜

shùn téng mō guā

lit. to follow the vine to get to the melon

鬼摸脑壳

guǐ mō nǎo ké

(idiom) muddled; momentarily confused

丈二和尚,摸不着头脑

zhàng èr hé shang , mō bu zháo tóu nǎo

lit. like a three-meter high monk, you can't rub his head (idiom)

丈二金刚摸不着头脑

zhàng èr jīn gāng mō bu zháo tóu nǎo

see 丈二和尚,摸不著頭腦|丈二和尚,摸不着头脑[zhang4 er4 he2 shang5 , mo1 bu5 zhao2 tou2 nao3]

不摸头

bù mō tóu

not acquainted with the situation

估摸

gū mo

to reckon

偷偷摸摸

tōu tōu mō mō

(idiom) surreptitious; sneaky

偷摸

tōu mō

surreptitious; sneaky

偷鸡摸狗

tōu jī mō gǒu

to imitate the dog and steal chicken (idiom)

两眼一摸黑

liǎng yǎn yī mō hēi

(of sb in an unfamiliar situation) helpless and disoriented

合眼摸象

hé yǎn mō xiàng

to touch an elephant with closed eyes (idiom); to proceed blindly

More characters with 扌