奴 (nú) is a Chinese character meaning “slave”. It is written from 女 (woman; female) and 又 (again), side by side, and takes 5 strokes.
Build the character for “slave”
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Structure
女 + 又
Left–right structure
Structure from: 说文解字·女部（奴、婢，皆古之辠人也。从女从又）；现代字形以 hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 核验：5 画 = 女 3 画 + 又 2 画
Memory aid
A hand (又) laid on a woman (女) — a person owned and held down by another: a slave.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
5 strokes
In real words
- 奴隶nú lìslave奴 = nú
- 奴役nú yìto enslave; to keep in bondage奴 = nú
- 匈奴xiōng núthe Xiongnu, a nomadic people of ancient northern China奴 = nú
Go deeper
All readings
slave
slave; a person owned by another; to enslave
旧时受人役使、没有人身自由的人；也指把人当作奴隶来役使。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 奴隶nú lìslave奴 = nú
- 奴役nú yìto enslave; to keep in bondage奴 = nú
- 匈奴xiōng núthe Xiongnu, a nomadic people of ancient northern China奴 = nú
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 奴 mean?
奴 (nú) means slave; a person owned by another; to enslave.
How do you pronounce 奴?
It is pronounced nú.
What parts is 奴 made of?
女 (woman; female) and 又 (again), side by side. The recorded source is: 说文解字·女部（奴、婢，皆古之辠人也。从女从又）；现代字形以 hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 核验：5 画 = 女 3 画 + 又 2 画. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 奴 have?
5. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 奴?
女. 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 奴?
Common ones are 奴隶 and 奴役. The reading of 奴 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.