莫

mò

do not, must not, cannot

莫忘初心

Do not forget your original intention

formalliterary

Used to express prohibition or impossibility, similar to 'do not' or 'must not'

莫要担心

Do not worry

莫名其妙

Inexplicable

Often used in literary or formal contexts to express strong prohibition or impossibility

formalliterary

Used to express that something is impossible or cannot be done

莫过于

Nothing is more than

莫如

It is better to

In these contexts, it often appears in fixed expressions

Collocations

莫名其妙inexplicable莫过于nothing is more than莫如it is better to

inexplicable

nothing is more than

it is better to

莫 is more common in classical and literary Chinese than in modern spoken Chinese

When used to express prohibition, it is often followed by a verb

Derived from Classical Chinese, originally meaning 'do not' or 'must not'

Commonly used in formal and literary contexts, less frequent in everyday speech

莫

do not

root

汉英词典