呜 (wū) is a Chinese character meaning “onomatopoeia: the sound of sobbing, wailing, or a horn or”. It is written from 口 (mouth) and 乌 (crow; black), side by side, and takes 7 strokes.
Build the character for “sound of sobbing”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
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Structure
口 + 乌
Left–right structure
Structure from: IDS ⿰口乌，与 hanzi-writer-data 笔画数核对（口 3 + 乌 4 = 7）
Memory aid
A mouth (口) making the sound of a crow (乌): "wū…" — the low, dark wail this character writes down.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
7 strokes
In real words
- 呜咽wū yèto sob; to whimper呜 = wū
- 呜呼wū hūalas; alack (literary exclamation of grief)呜 = wū
- 呜呼哀哉wū hū āi zāialas! — and that was the end of it呜 = wū
Go deeper
All readings
sound of sobbing or a horn
onomatopoeia: the sound of sobbing, wailing, or a horn or siren
象声词，形容哭泣声、汽笛声等低沉的声音。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 呜咽wū yèto sob; to whimper呜 = wū
- 呜呼wū hūalas; alack (literary exclamation of grief)呜 = wū
- 呜呼哀哉wū hū āi zāialas! — and that was the end of it呜 = wū
Sound component
乌 family exact
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 呜 mean?
呜 (wū) means onomatopoeia: the sound of sobbing, wailing, or a horn or siren.
How do you pronounce 呜?
It is pronounced wū.
What parts is 呜 made of?
口 (mouth) and 乌 (crow; black), side by side. The recorded source is: IDS ⿰口乌，与 hanzi-writer-data 笔画数核对（口 3 + 乌 4 = 7）. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 呜 have?
7. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 呜?
口. 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 呜?
Common ones are 呜咽 and 呜呼. The reading of 呜 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.