巫 (wū) is a Chinese character meaning “a shaman”. It is written from 工 (work) and 从 (to follow; two people one behind the other), and takes 7 strokes.
Build the character for “shaman; witch”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
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Structure
工 + 从
Overlapping structure
Structure from: Unicode U+5DEB and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (strokes 1, 2 and 7 trace 工; strokes 3-6 trace 从 between them); this describes the modern shape only, not the historical formation
Memory aid
A carpenter's square (工) held between sky and ground, with two people (从) standing inside it — the shaman is the one people line up behind to reach what is above.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
7 strokes
In real words
- 女巫nǚ wūwitch; sorceress巫 = wū
- 巫师wū shīwizard; sorcerer; shaman巫 = wū
Go deeper
All readings
shaman; witch
a shaman; a witch or sorcerer; someone said to communicate with spirits
以祈祷、占卜等方式沟通鬼神的人；巫师、巫婆。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 女巫nǚ wūwitch; sorceress巫 = wū
- 巫师wū shīwizard; sorcerer; shaman巫 = wū
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 巫 mean?
巫 (wū) means a shaman; a witch or sorcerer; someone said to communicate with spirits.
How do you pronounce 巫?
It is pronounced wū.
What parts is 巫 made of?
工 (work) and 从 (to follow; two people one behind the other). The recorded source is: Unicode U+5DEB and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (strokes 1, 2 and 7 trace 工; strokes 3-6 trace 从 between them); this describes the modern shape only, not the historical formation. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 巫 have?
7. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 巫?
工. 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 巫?
Common ones are 女巫 and 巫师. The reading of 巫 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.