Chinese word

某

Pronunciation

Pinyinmǒu

Meaning

  • pronouna certain

Example

他在某公司工作。tā zài mǒu gōng sī gōng zuò

He works for a certain company.

Illustration for 某 (a certain)

More examples

警方说某地区发生了事故。jǐng fāng shuō mǒu dì qū fā shēng liǎo shì gù

The police said an accident occurred in a certain area.

Core concept

An open label that points to a real referent while leaving its exact identity unstated.

Common phrases

  • 某人mǒu rén

    a certain person

  • 某公司mǒu gōng sī

    a certain company

  • 某地区mǒu dì qū

    a certain area

Similar words

某个mǒu gè: Points to one specific person or thing without naming it.
某人mǒu rén: Refers to a person whose name is not given.
某些mǒu xiē: Refers vaguely to several people or things of the same kind without naming them.

Definition in Chinese

通常置于名词前作定语，也可作宾语，用以替代不便或不愿指明的具体对象，含义相当于“某个”“某一”，可与人、地、机构、时间等搭配。tōng cháng zhì yú míng cí qián zuò dìng yǔ yě kě zuò bīn yǔ yòng yǐ tì dài bú biàn huò bú yuàn zhǐ míng de jù tǐ duì xiàng hán yì xiāng dāng yú mǒu gè mǒu yī kě yǔ rén dì jī gòu shí jiān děng dā pèi

Word origin

In early written use, 某 (mǒu, "a certain") stood in for an omitted name, and that practice developed into its modern use for an unspecified person, place, institution, or time.

Usage tips

  • English changes its indefinite expression with the type of referent, while this word keeps one form before nouns for people, places, institutions, and times.

Other meanings

  • someonepronoun

Opposites

Related words

  • 某些mǒu xiēsomepronoun
  • 某某móu mǒusomeonepronoun

Word lists with this word