mo / も
The last of the M row — three strokes 'mo' that close the row with a vertical anchor and two horizontal sweeps.
Pronunciation
The character も represents the syllable 'mo', a soft 'm' followed by 'o'. Part of the ま-row.
も closes the M row and packs into many essential words — 物 (thing), 桃 (peach), 持つ (to hold). It also appears as a particle meaning "also" or "too" (私も学生です — "I'm a student too"). Three strokes; balanced and easy to draw, similar to し but with two horizontal accents.
How to write も
Trace も on the canvas at the top of the page. Animated arrows show each stroke's direction; trace along them and the stroke fills in. Each numbered step below explains what that stroke does.
A long flowing stroke that drops from the upper centre down through the area, then sweeps to the lower right with a small flick. Similar to a slimmed-down し.
A short horizontal stroke crossing the central vertical near the top — a quick mark left to right.
A second horizontal stroke crossing the central vertical near the middle, parallel to stroke 2 and slightly longer. The two horizontals stacked on the vertical give も its distinctive layered shape.
Origin
Hiragana も comes from the cursive form of the kanji 毛 (mou) — meaning "hair" or "fur." The kanji's flowing lower-left curve survived intact as the central stroke; the upper horizontals preserve what's left of its top component.
Common words starting with も
Printable practice sheet
Print this worksheet to practice writing も by hand — the top row shows the stroke order to trace, then fill the blank squares.
Lock it into memory
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