吾 (wú): surname Wu, (old) I, my
吾 (wú) is a Chinese character meaning “(old) i.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 五 (phonetic) and 口 (semantic). It ranks #3021 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 吾 mouth. Its radical form 口 (mouth) appears in many related characters such as 口 (kǒu, mouth), 吃 (chī, to eat), 喝 (hē, to drink).
Definitions
- surname Wu
- (old) I
- my
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
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Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 支支吾吾 | zhī zhī wú wú | to hem and haw |
| 支吾verb | zhī wú | to resist |
| 吾辈pronoun | wú bèi | (literary) we |
| 维吾尔proper-noun | wéi wú ěr | Uyghur ethnic group |
| 世界维吾尔代表大会 | shì jiè wéi wú ěr dài biǎo dà huì | World Uighur Congress |
| 老吾老,以及人之老 | lǎo wú lǎo , yǐ jí rén zhī lǎo | to honor old people as we do our own aged parents |
| 吾尔开希 | wú ěr kāi xī | Örkesh Dölet (1968-), one of the main leaders of the Beijing student democracy movement of 1989 |
| 维吾尔人 | wéi wú ěr rén | Uighur person or people |
| 新疆维吾尔自治区proper-noun | xīn jiāng wéi wú ěr zì zhì qū | Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, capital Ürümqi 烏魯木齊市|乌鲁木齐市 (short name 新) |
| 吾生也有涯,而知也无涯 | wú shēng yě yǒu yá , ér zhī yě wú yá | Life is short, learning is limitless |
| 老吾老,以及人之老,幼吾幼,以及人之幼 | lǎo wú lǎo , yǐ jí rén zhī lǎo , yòu wú yòu , yǐ jí rén zhī yòu | to honor old people as we do our own aged parents, and care for other's children as one's own |
| 维吾尔语 | wéi wú ěr yǔ | Uighur language |
| 支吾其词 | zhī wú qí cí | (idiom) to talk in a roundabout way to cover up the truth |
| 维吾尔族 | wéi wú ěr zú | Uyghur ethnic group |
| 吾人 | wú rén | (literary) we |
吾 appears in 21 compound words: 24 as the first character, 14 as the last, and 62 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Idioms & Chengyu (4)
Example Sentences
活动由新疆维吾尔自治区文学艺术界联合会主办。
huó dòng yóu xīn jiāng wéi wú ěr zì zhì qū wén xué yì shù jiè lián hé huì zhǔ bàn .
The event was organized by the Federation of Literary and Art Circles of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
“哀吾生之须臾,羡长江之无穷”这一诗句在这个场景下瞬间变得真实可感。
āi wú shēng zhī xū 臾 , xiàn cháng jiāng zhī wú qióng zhè yī shī jù zài zhè gè chǎng jǐng xià shùn jiān biàn dé zhēn shí kě gǎn .
In this setting, the line “I lament the fleeting nature of my life and envy the boundless flow of the Yangtze River” instantly becomes vivid and tangible.
东野圭吾小说的首部改编动画,没有多少推理元素,而是一则奇幻治愈故事。
dōng yě guī wú xiǎo shuō de shǒu bù gǎi biān dòng huà , méi yǒu duō shǎo tuī lǐ yuán sù , ér shì yī zé qí huàn zhì yù gù shì .
The first animated adaptation of a Keigo Higashino novel, it contains few elements of mystery and is instead a fantastical, heartwarming story.
徐福将中国传统文化中“幼吾幼以及人之幼”的思想浸润于一餐一饭中,并最终以命相搏。
xú fú jiāng zhōng guó chuán tǒng wén huà zhōng yòu wú yòu yǐ jí rén zhī yòu de sī xiǎng jìn rùn yú yī cān yī fàn zhōng , bìng zuì zhōng yǐ mìng xiāng bó .
Xu Fu infused the traditional Chinese philosophy of “loving one’s own children and extending that love to the children of others” into every meal he prepared, and ultimately risked his life for it.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
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Is 吾 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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