窝 (wō): nest

窝 (wō) is a Chinese character meaning “nest.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 穴 (semantic) and 呙 (phonetic). It ranks #1935 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 窝 cave. Its radical form 穴 (cave) appears in many related characters such as 穿 (chuān, to wear, 穿透), 空 (kōng, empty, sky), 突 (tū, sudden).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. nest

Etymology & Origin

窝

pictophoneticcave

Decomposition: ⿱穴呙 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

Practice writing 窝 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
窝囊废nounwō nang fèi(coll.) spineless coward
窝囊adjectivewō nangto feel vexed
腋窝nounyè wōarmpit
窝藏verbwō cángto harbor
蜂窝nounfēng wōhoneycomb
窝心adjectivewō xīnaggrieved
酒窝nounjiǔ wōdimple (on the cheek when smiling)
萨拉热窝proper-nounsà lā rè wōSarajevo, capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina
被窝nounbèi wō(traditional bedding) quilt wrapped around the body as a tube
眼窝nounyǎn wōeye socket
鸟窝nounniǎo wōbird's nest
胳肢窝noungā zhi wōarmpit
窝里斗verbwō li dòuinternal strife (family, group, etc)
安乐窝nounān lè wōcomfortable niche
贼窝nounzéi wōthieves' lair
70
Total compounds
31
As first character
49
As last character
20
As middle character

窝 appears in 70 compound words: 31 as the first character, 49 as the last, and 20 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 窝 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

阔kuò
0.6231,222 co-occurrences
蜂fēng
0.6121,432 co-occurrences
颊jiá
0.49560 co-occurrences
燕yàn
0.478504 co-occurrences
铺pù
0.457276 co-occurrences
棚péng
0.450192 co-occurrences
夯hāng
0.43234 co-occurrences
柴chái
0.432336 co-occurrences
蚂mǎ
0.42428 co-occurrences
堡bǎo
0.420600 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (4)

调三窝四tiáo sān wō sìHSK 7+

to sow the seeds of discord everywhere (idiom)

phrase
萨拉热窝SàlārèwōHSK 7+

Sarajevo (the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina)

挑三窝四tiǎo sān wō sìHSK 7+

to sow discord everywhere

phrase
捅马蜂窝tǒng mǎfēngwōHSK 7+

to stir up a hornets' nest

verb

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

小鸟在树上筑了一个窝,准备孵蛋。

Xiǎo niǎo zài shù shang zhù le yí gè wō, zhǔnbèi fū dàn.

The little bird built a nest in the tree, preparing to hatch eggs.

The Beijing NewsMar 2026

...孕到哺乳,一人吃两人补丨适合孕妇食用的燕窝品牌推荐

. . . yùn dào bǔ rǔ , yī rén chī liǎng rén bǔ 丨 shì gě yùn fù shí yòng de yān wō pǐn pái tuī jiàn

...From Pregnancy to Breastfeeding: One Meal, Double the Nutrition | Recommended Bird's Nest Brands for Pregnant Women

Hk01.comMar 2026

葵涌冧天秤|大窝口道部份路段解封 4条巴士线仍须改道

葵 chōng 冧 tiān chēng dà wō kǒu dào bù fèn lù duàn jiě fēng 4 tiáo bā shì xiàn réng xū gǎi dào

Kwai Chung and Tin Hau | Partial Reopening of Tai Wo Hau Road; 4 Bus Routes Still Require Detours

Hk01.comMar 2026

葵涌冧天秤|石头街与上角街之间大窝口道解封 部份巴士线仍改道

葵 chōng 冧 tiān chēng shí tóu jiē yǔ shàng jiǎo jiē zhī jiān dà wō kǒu dào jiě fēng bù fèn bā shì xiàn réng gǎi dào

Kwai Chung Traffic Update: Tai Wo Hau Road between Shek Tau Street and Sheung Kok Street Reopens; Some Bus Routes Still Diverted

百度新闻Feb 2026

“希望老百姓安宁幸福” 他的新春愿望和冬窝子的雪一..

xī wàng lǎo bǎi xìng ān nìng xìng fú tā de xīn chūn yuàn wàng hé dōng wō zǐ de xuě yī . .

"I wish the people peace and happiness." His wish for the New Year is the same as the snow in the winter harbor...

百度新闻Feb 2026

这届年轻人的消费,要花在“心窝”里

zhè jiè nián qīng rén de xiāo fèi , yāo huā zài xīn wō lǐ

This generation of young people will spend in their hearts.

Tatoeba

金窝银窝不如自己的狗窝。

Jīnwō yínwō bùrú zìjǐ de gǒuwō.

Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.

Tatoeba

一窝黄蜂袭击了孩子们。

Yī wō huángfēng xíjī le háizimen.

A swarm of hornets attacked the children.

Tatoeba

汤姆的发型像鸟窝。

Tāngmǔ de fàxíng xiàng niǎowō.

Tom has a bird's nest hairstyle.

Tatoeba

他真是刚出狼窝又入虎穴。

Tā zhēnshi gāng chū láng wō yòu rù hǔ xué.

He fell out of the frying pan into the fire.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 穴 (cave) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced wō

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 窝 (wō) mean in Chinese?
窝 (wō) primarily means "nest." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #1935 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 窝 and 祸?
窝 (wō) and 祸 (huò) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 穴 vs 礻 (same 呙 component).
How many strokes does 窝 have?
窝 is written with 12 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 窝?
The radical associated with 窝 is 穴 (cave). This radical appears in many characters related to cave.
What are the components of 窝?
窝 is composed of: 穴 (semantic), 呙 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱穴呙 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 窝?
Common words with 窝 include: 窝囊废 (wō nang fèi, "(coll.) spineless coward"); 窝囊 (wō nang, "to feel vexed"); 腋窝 (yè wō, "armpit"); 窝藏 (wō cáng, "to harbor"); 蜂窝 (fēng wō, "honeycomb"). There are over 70 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 窝 (wō)?
Several characters share the pronunciation wō: 我 (I), 握 (to hold), 卧 (to lie), 沃 (fertile), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 窝 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 窝 and the traditional form is 窩.

Practice writing 窝 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.