(): abbr. for country names that begin with 烏|乌: Ukraine 烏克蘭|乌克兰, Uzbekistan 烏茲別克斯坦|乌兹别克斯坦 etc, crow, black

() is a Chinese character meaning “abbr. for country names that begin with 烏|乌: ukraine 烏克蘭|乌克兰, uzbekistan 烏茲別克斯坦|乌兹别克斯坦 etc.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 丿 (structural). It ranks #1238 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically pictographic, simplified form of 烏; a crow; compare 鸟. Its radical form 丿 (slash) appears in many related characters such as (, exclamatory final particle), (jiǔ, (of a period of time) long), (, happy).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. abbr. for country names that begin with 烏|乌: Ukraine 烏克蘭|乌克兰, Uzbekistan 烏茲別克斯坦|乌兹别克斯坦 etc
  2. crow
  3. black

Etymology & Origin

pictographicSimplified form of 烏; a crow; compare 鸟

Components:丿structural

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
nounwū guītortoise6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
wū yācrow
wū kè lánUkraine
wū yúnblack cloud
wù laleather shoe stuffed with Carex meyeriana 烏拉草|乌拉草[wu4 la5 cao3], worn in northeastern China during winter
wū zéicuttlefish
wū gān dáUganda
wū ěr mǔUlm (city in Germany)
wū ěrUr (Sumerian city c. 4500 BC in modern Iraq)
wū lóng cháoolong tea
wū lā guīUruguay
wū lā ěrthe Ural mountains in Russia, dividing Europe from Asia
wū hēijet-black
wū qīngbluish black
wū mùebony
wū lǐChanna argus
100
Total compounds
85
As first character
9
As last character
6
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 85 as the first character, 9 as the last, and 6 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

lán
0.688155,479 co-occurrences
lóng
0.62212 co-occurrences
0.61135,904 co-occurrences
cāng
0.60012 co-occurrences
0.577163,794 co-occurrences
0.5665,580 co-occurrences
0.56439,084 co-occurrences
0.56112 co-occurrences
0.53616,458 co-occurrences
wěi
0.48512 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (10)

西dōng tù xī wūHSK 6+

lit. the sun setting and the moon rising (idiom); fig. the passage of time

phrase
suōtóu wūguīHSK 6+

cowardly person; coward; ostrich

noun
wūhézhīzhòngHSK 6+

disorderly group of people; mob; rabble

phrase
WūlánchábùHSK 6+

Ulanqab (a prefecture-level city of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, China)

WūlánhàotèHSK 7+

Ulanhot (a county-level city of Hinggan, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, China)

Wūlúngǔ HúHSK 7+

Ulungur Lake (a lake in Fuhai, Xinjiang autonomous region, China)

wūqībāzāoHSK 6+

everything in disorder; in a hideous mess; horribly messy; filthy; despicable; disgusting

phrase
JīxīnèwūHSK 6+

Chișinău (a city, the capital city of Moldova)

Showing 8 of 10 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

字在不同的语境中有不同的用法。

wū zì zài bù tóng de yǔ jìng zhōng yǒu bù tóng de yòng fǎ .

The character "乌" has different usages in different contexts.

EttodayFeb 2026

俄战争4周年前夕 泽伦斯基喊话川普:请站...

wū é zhàn zhēng 4 zhōu nián qián xī zé lún sī jī hǎn huà chuān pǔ : qǐng zhàn . . .

On the eve of the 4th anniversary of the Ukrainian-Russian War, Zelensky shouted to Trump: Please stand...

WorldjournalFeb 2026

俄军打击能源设施 克兰多地大面积停电

é jūn dǎ jī wū néng yuán shè shī wū kè lán duō dì dà miàn jī tíng diàn

Russian forces hit Ukrainian energy facilities Large-scale power outages in many places in Ukraine

StheadlineFeb 2026

上水“怪兽仓”两幼犬被困笼内 一狗断尾惹蝇 区议员联络仓主无果报警求助

shàng shuǐ guài shòu cāng liǎng yòu quǎn bèi kùn lóng nèi yī gǒu duàn wěi rě wū yíng qū yì yuán lián lào cāng zhǔ wú guǒ bào jǐng qiú zhù

Two puppies were trapped in the cage of the "monster warehouse" in Sheung Shui, and a dog had its tail cut off and provoked flies

百度新闻Feb 2026

俄方称欧洲在克兰问题上更倾向于延续冲突

é fāng chèn ōu zhōu zài wū kè lán wèn tí shàng gēng qīng xiàng yú yán xù chōng tū

Russia said that Europe is more inclined to continue the conflict on the Ukraine issue

Tatoeba

您是鲁木齐人吗?

Nín shì Wūlǔmùqí rén ma?

Are you from Urumqi?

Tatoeba

你说克兰语或俄语吗?

Nǐ shuō Wūkèlán yǔ huò éyǔ ma?

Do you speak Ukrainian or Russian?

Tatoeba

给我买只龟吧,妈妈,求你给我买只龟吧!

Gěi wǒ mǎi zhǐ wūguī ba, māma, qiú nǐ gěi wǒ mǎi zhǐ wūguī ba!

Buy me a turtle, Mom, please buy me a turtle!

Tatoeba

野兔被龟抛了在后头。

Yětù bèi wūguī pāo le zàihòu tóu.

The hare was overtaken by the tortoise.

Tatoeba

云逐渐布满了整个天空。

Wūyún zhújiàn bù mǎn le zhěnggè tiānkōng.

The sky has gradually clouded over.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 乌 (wū) mean in Chinese?
乌 (wū) primarily means "abbr. for country names that begin with 烏|乌: ukraine 烏克蘭|乌克兰, uzbekistan 烏茲別克斯坦|乌兹别克斯坦 etc." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1238 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 乌 and 终?
乌 (wū) and 终 (zhōng) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 乌 (begin) vs 终 (end).
How many strokes does 乌 have?
乌 is written with 4 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 乌?
The radical associated with 乌 is 丿 (slash). This radical appears in many characters related to slash.
What are the components of 乌?
乌 is composed of: 丿 (structural). Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 乌?
Common words with 乌 include: 乌龟 (wū guī, "tortoise"); 乌鸦 (wū yā, "crow"); 乌克兰 (wū kè lán, "Ukraine"); 乌云 (wū yún, "black cloud"); 乌拉 (wù la, "leather shoe stuffed with Carex meyeriana 烏拉草|乌拉草[wu4 la5 cao3], worn in northeastern China during winter"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 乌 (wū)?
Several characters share the pronunciation wū: 污 (dirty), 屋 ((bound form) house), 五 (five), 午 (7th earthly branch: 11 a.m.-1 p.m., noon, 5th solar month (6th June-6th July), year of the Horse), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 乌 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 乌 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.