呜 (wū): (onom.) for humming or whimpering
呜 (wū) is a Chinese character meaning “(onom.) for humming or whimpering.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 口 (semantic) and 乌 (phonetic). It ranks #2467 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 呜 mouth. Its radical form 口 (mouth) appears in many related characters such as 口 (kǒu, mouth), 叫 (jiào, to call, to be called), 右 (yòu, (bound form) right).
Definitions
- (onom.) for humming or whimpering
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 呜 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 呜呼interjection | wū hū | alas |
| 呜呜noun | wū wū | (interj) boo hoo |
| 呜咽verb | wū yè | to sob |
| 一命呜呼phrase | yī mìng wū hū | to die (idiom) |
| 呜呜祖拉noun | wū wū zǔ lā | vuvuzela (horn) (loanword) |
| 呜呼哀哉interjection | wū hū āi zāi | alas |
呜 appears in 6 compound words: 83 as the first character, 0 as the last, and 17 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 呜 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (2)
Example Sentences
他呜干舌燥地讲了两个小时，终于说服了大家。
tā wū gān jī zào dì jiǎng le liǎng gě xiǎo shí , zhōng yú shuō fú le dà jiā .
He talked for two hours, his voice hoarse and his tongue parched, until he finally won everyone over.
台下鸦雀无声，只有大别山的风从乐池中呜咽而起。
tái xià yā qiāo wú shēng , zhī yǒu dà bié shān de fēng cóng lè chí zhōng wū yān ér qǐ .
The audience was deathly silent; only the wind from the Dabie Mountains rose from the orchestra pit with a mournful wail.
（美加墨世界杯）世界杯揭幕夜：呜呜祖拉在南非响起
( měi jiā mò shì jiè bēi ) shì jiè bēi jiē mù yè : wū wū zǔ lā zài nán fēi xiǎng qǐ
(USA-Canada-Mexico World Cup) World Cup Opening Night: Vuvuzelas Sound in South Africa
每个人都爱呜呜塞拉！
Měi gè rén dōu ài wūwū sāi lā!
Everybody loves the vuvuzelas!
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 呜 (wū) mean in Chinese?
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What characters sound the same as 呜 (wū)?
Is 呜 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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