も

も U+3082, も HIRAGANA LETTER MO ← め [U+3081] Hiragana ゃ → [U+3083]

Japanese

Stroke order

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [mo̞]

Etymology 1

Derived in the Heian period from writing the man'yōgana kanji 毛 in the cursive sōsho style.

Syllable

も • (mo) 

1. The hiragana syllable も (mo). Its equivalent in katakana is モ (mo). It is the thirty-fifth syllable in the gojūon order; its position is ま行お段 (ma-gyō o-dan, “row ma, section o”).

See also

• (Hiragana) 平仮名; あぁ, いぃ, うぅゔ, えぇ, おぉ, かゕが, きぎ, くぐ, けゖげ, こ𛄲 (𛄲)ご, さざ, しじ, すず, せぜ, そぞ, ただ, ちぢ, つっづ, てで, とど, な, に, ぬ, ね, の, はばぱ, ひびぴ, ふぶぷ, へべぺ, ほぼぽ, ま, み, む, め, も, やゃ, 𛀆, ゆゅ, 𛀁, よょ, らら゚, りり゚, るる゚, れれ゚, ろろ゚, わゎわ゙, ゐ𛅐 (𛅐)ゐ゙, 𛄟 (𛄟), ゑ𛅑 (𛅑)ゑ゙, を𛅒 (𛅒)を゙, ん, ー, ゝ, ゞ, ゟ

Etymology 2

⟨mo₂⟩ → */mə/ → /mo/

From Old Japanese, from Proto-Japonic *mə.

Particle

も • (mo) 

1. (non-unique topic marker)

   Antonym: は

   1. too; also; as well

      田(た)中(なか)さんはビールを飲(の)んでいる。スミスさんも飲(の)んでいる。

      Tanaka-san wa bīru o nondeiru. Sumisu-san mo nondeiru.

      Tanaka is drinking beer. Smith is also drinking.

      本(ほん)日(じつ)もご来(らい)店(てん)くださいまして、ありがとうございます。

      Honjitsu mo go-raiten kudasaimashite, arigatō gozaimasu.

      Thank you for visiting our store today as well [as other days].

      私(わたし)にもくれた。

      Watashi ni mo kureta.

      [She] gave some to me, too.

   2. even

      夢(ゆめ)にも思(おも)いませんでした。

      Yume ni mo omoimasen deshita.

      I have never thought of this even in my dreams.

      500(ごひゃく) 円(えん)もあれば買(か)える。

      Gohyaku en mo areba kaeru.

      I only need 500 yen to buy this.

      (literally, “I can buy this even if I have only 500 yen.”)

      猿(さる)も木(き)から落(お)ちる

      saru mo ki kara ochiru

      Even experts occasionally make mistakes.

      (literally, “Even monkeys fall from trees”)

   3. (attaching to an indefinite pronoun or determiner) all; every

      誰(だれ)も知(し)っていることだ。

      Dare mo shitte iru koto da.

      Everyone knows this.

      箱(はこ)の中(なか)には何(なに)もなかった。

      Hako no naka ni wa nani mo nakatta.

      The box was empty.

      (literally, “Inside the box, all things do not exist.”)

   5. Used to emphasize amounts.

      何万人(なんまんにん)も来(き)た。

      Nanmannin mo kita.

      Myriads of people came.

      2GBもある

      2GB mo aru

      an entire 2 gigabytes large

Usage notes

• も (mo) vs は (wa):

  も indicates the topic is “non-unique”, i.e., the result or conclusion remains the same even if the current topic is changed.

  今日(きょう)もいい天(てん)気(き)。

  Kyō mo ii tenki.

  Nice weather today. (implying something like “the weather was also nice yesterday/the weather is fine as usual”.)

  は indicates the topic is “unique”, i.e., the result or conclusion will be different if the current topic is changed.

  今日(きょう)はいい天(てん)気(き)。

  Kyō wa ii tenki.

  Nice weather today. (implying something like “the weather was bad yesterday/the weather has been bad recently”.)

• も (mo) always replaces を (o) and が (ga), but may follow other particles.
• When after a verb, the verb is conjugated as て (-te) in conventional language and as the dictionary form in literary language: しても (shite mo), するも (suru mo).

Synonyms

• (even): すら (sura), さえ (sae), まで (made), だって (datte), だに (dani)

Derived terms

Derived terms

• もが (mo ga)
• もや (mo ya)
• もよ (mo yo)
• いつも (itsu mo)
• いつまでも (itsu made mo)
• かも (ka mo)
• しも (shi mo)
• だにも (dani mo)
• でも (de mo)
• とも (to mo)
• ども (do mo)
• にも (ni mo)
• もがも (mo ga mo)
• やも (ya mo)
• をも (o mo)

Etymology 3

Readings of various kanji.

Noun

も • (mo) 

1. 最: most
2. 喪: mourning
3. 裳: clothes
4. 藻: algae
5. 面: mask, face, surface

Old Japanese

Etymology 1

From Proto-Japonic *mə.

Appears in common use in the Kojiki (712 CE), with the only attested distinction between ⟨mo₁⟩ and ⟨mo₂⟩. Compare Middle Chinese 母 (MC muwX).

Pronunciation was distinct from ⟨mo₁⟩ terms such as 雲 (kumo₁, “cloud”) and 下 (simo₁, “lower, end”); pronounced closely to Middle Chinese 毛 (MC maw|mawH). This was lost in a later ancient Japanese chronicle, the Nihon Shoki (720 CE), and ⟨mo₁⟩ and ⟨mo₂⟩ were merged to form one syllable mo. See the Man'yōgana and Jōdai Tokushu Kanazukai articles for more detail on ancient spellings.

Particle

も (mo₂ → mo)

1. non-unique topic marker: also, even

Derived terms

• かも (ka mo)

Descendants

• Japanese: も (mo)

Etymology 2

The Eastern variant of む (-mu).

Suffix

も (-mo)

1. (regional, Eastern Old Japanese) Used to form the conjectural form of verbs, equivalent to modern う (-u)/よう (-yō)
   • c. 759, Man’yōshū, book 14, poem 3418:
     , text here

     可美都氣努佐野田能奈倍能武良奈倍爾許登波佐太米都伊麻波伊可爾世母

     Kami₁tuke₂no₁ Sano₁da-no₂-nape₂ no₂ muranape₂ ni ko₂to₂ ni sadame₂tu ima pa ika ni semo

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   • c. 759, Man’yōshū, book 20, poem 4418:
     , text here

     和我可度乃可多夜麻都婆伎麻己等奈禮和我弖布禮奈奈都知爾於知母加毛

     waga kado₁ no₂ katayama tubaki mako₂to₂ nare waga te purenana tuti ni otimo ka mo

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Usage notes

This is morphologically an inflectional suffix. It is classified as 助動詞 (jodōshi, “auxiliary verb”) in traditional Japanese grammar.