毫 háo fine hair
How to remember 毫: ⿱亠口 tall + 毛 hair = fine hair. Grandma, tall enough to reach the top shelf, pulls down her sweater, brushes dust from her hair and finds the wool full of the cat's fine hair.
Component breakdown
毫 = ⿱亠口 tall + 毛 hair
- ⿱亠口 tall
- 毛 hair
Grandma, tall enough to reach the top shelf, pulls down her sweater, brushes dust from her hair and finds the wool full of the cat's fine hair.
How it is used
- A fine hair, hence a tiny amount / milli- prefix - 毫米 (háomǐ) millimeter, 毫升 (háoshēng) milliliter.
- Key function: emphatic negation 'not in the least' - 毫无 (háowú) / 毫不 (háobù): 毫无办法 (háowú bànfǎ) utterly no way, 毫不犹豫 (háobù yóuyù) without the slightest hesitation.
- 丝毫 (sīháo) = the tiniest bit, usually negated: 丝毫不差 not off in the slightest.
- 毫 conveys 'a hair's worth,' so 毫无 = 'not even a hair's worth of.'