五 (wǔ): five, 5
五 (wǔ) is a Chinese character meaning “five.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 二 (structural). It ranks #279 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 五 five elements (the cross with the extra stroke) between heaven 一 and earth 一 . Its radical form 二 (two) appears in many related characters such as 二 (èr, two), 些 (xiē, classifier indicating a small amount or small number greater than 1: some, a few, several), 于 (yú, (of time or place) in).
Definitions
- five
- 5
Etymology & Origin
ideographicFive elements (the cross with the extra stroke) between heaven 一 and earth 一
Stroke Order
Practice writing 五 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 五
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 第五 | dì wǔ | fifth |
| 周五 | zhōu wǔ | Friday |
| 五十 | wǔ shí | fifty |
| 十五 | shí wǔ | fifteen |
| 五月 | wǔ yuè | May |
| 礼拜五 | lǐ bài wǔ | Friday |
| 二百五 | èr bǎi wǔ | idiot |
| 五金 | wǔ jīn | metal hardware (nuts and bolts) |
| 五星 | wǔ xīng | the five visible planets, namely: Mercury 水星, Venus 金星, Mars 火星, Jupiter 木星, Saturn 土星 |
| 五一 | wǔ yī | 5-1 (May 1st) |
| 五指 | wǔ zhǐ | the five fingers of one's hand |
| 五官 | wǔ guān | five sense organs of TCM (nose, eyes, lips, tongue, ears 鼻目口舌耳) |
| 五五 | wǔ wǔ | 50-50 |
| 五彩 | wǔ cǎi | five (main) colors (white, black, red, yellow, and blue) |
| 五音 | wǔ yīn | five notes of pentatonic scale, roughly do, re, mi, sol, la |
五 appears in 100 compound words: 81 as the first character, 14 as the last, and 5 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 五 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (30)
rounding to the closest number (0.4 being rounded down, 0.5 being rounded up); rounding off
Showing 12 of 30 idioms containing 五.
Example Sentences
五颜六色的花朵把花园装点得非常美丽。
Wǔ yán liù sè de huāduǒ bǎ huāyuán zhuāngdiǎn de fēicháng měilì.
Colorful flowers decorate the garden very beautifully.
过完年后该不该跳槽?先问自己五个“关键问题”
guò wán nián hòu gāi bù gāi tiào cáo ? xiān wèn zì jǐ wǔ gè guān jiàn wèn tí
Should I change jobs after the New Year? Ask yourself five "key questions" first
五特攻队跃领涨先锋 将是大盘上冲34,00...
wǔ tè gōng duì yuè lǐng zhǎng xiān fēng jiāng shì dà pán shàng chōng 3 4 , 0 0 . . .
The five special forces jumped to the vanguard and will be the market to rush 34,00...
注意!静安“马上有礼”第五轮即将开抢,春日焕新消费..
zhù yì ! jìng ān mǎ shǎng yǒu lǐ dì wǔ lún jí jiāng kāi qiāng , chūn rì huàn xīn xiāo fèi . .
Attention! The fifth round of Jing'an "Gifts Now" is about to start, and the spring renewal spending...
中国短道最靓的一个第五名——米兰冬奥会山东选手公俐..
zhōng guó duǎn dào zuì 靓 de yī gě dì wǔ míng mǐ lán dōng ào huì shān dōng xuǎn shǒu gōng 俐 . .
China's short track one of the prettiest fifth - Milan Winter Olympics Shandong's Gong Li...
轻型战斗机,五星好评?
qīng xíng zhàn dǒu jī , wǔ xīng hǎo píng ?
Lightweight fighter jet, five-star rating?
你的二十块在哪里? 我给你五块钱找到它。
Nǐ de èrshí kuài zài nǎlǐ? wǒ gěi nǐ wǔ kuài qián zhǎodào tā.
Where is your twenty? I'll give you five bucks for it.
你星期五下午有空吗？
Nǐ Xīngqīwǔ xiàwǔ yǒu kòng ma?
Are you free on Friday afternoon?
我是不是五月出生的？
Wǒ shìbùshì Wǔyuè chūshēng de?
Was it in May that I was born?
那，我们五点后去买衣服，好吗？
Nà, wǒmen wǔ diǎn hòu qù mǎi yīfu, hǎo ma?
Then, we will go clothes shopping after five o'clock, alright?
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 五 (wǔ) mean in Chinese?
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What characters sound the same as 五 (wǔ)?
Is 五 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 五 with real-time feedback
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