伍 (wǔ) is a Chinese character meaning “the formal (anti-fraud) way of writing the numeral five on”. It is written from 亻 (person (the form 人 takes on the left)) and 五 (five), side by side, and takes 6 strokes.
Build the character for “five (the formal form)”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
亻 + 五
Left–right structure
Structure from: modern-glyph decomposition (IDS ⿰亻五; 笔画数 2+4=6 与 hanzi-writer-data 一致)
Memory aid
A person (亻) next to the number five (五): five soldiers stand together as one squad. Both parts really are in this character.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
6 strokes
In real words
- 入伍rù wǔto enlist in the army伍 = wǔ
- 队伍duì wǔtroops; ranks; a line of people伍 = wǔspoken asduì wu
Go deeper
All readings
five (formal form); ranks
the formal (anti-fraud) way of writing the numeral five on cheques and contracts; a squad of five soldiers, hence ranks or troops
「五」的大写，用于票据、合同等正式场合；古代军队五人为一伍，引申指队列、行列。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 入伍rù wǔto enlist in the army伍 = wǔ
- 队伍duì wǔtroops; ranks; a line of people伍 = wǔspoken asduì wu
Sound component
五 family exact
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 伍 mean?
伍 (wǔ) means the formal (anti-fraud) way of writing the numeral five on cheques and contracts; a squad of five soldiers, hence ranks or troops.
How do you pronounce 伍?
It is pronounced wǔ.
What parts is 伍 made of?
亻 (person (the form 人 takes on the left)) and 五 (five), side by side. The recorded source is: modern-glyph decomposition (IDS ⿰亻五; 笔画数 2+4=6 与 hanzi-writer-data 一致). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 伍 have?
6. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 伍?
人. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 伍?
Common ones are 入伍 and 队伍. The reading of 伍 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.