未 (wèi) is a Chinese character meaning “not yet”. It is written from 一 (one) and 木 (tree; wood), and takes 5 strokes.
Build the character for “not yet”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
一 + 木
Overlapping structure
Structure from: Unicode U+672A and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (stroke 1 = short 横; strokes 2-5 = 木 横竖撇捺)
Memory aid
A tree (木) with one short line (一) laid across the top — the topmost branch is still shorter than the one below it, so this tree has not finished growing: not yet.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
5 strokes
In real words
- 未来wèi láifuture; the time to come未 = wèi
- 从未cóng wèinever; never before未 = wèi
Go deeper
All readings
not yet
not yet; have not; did not (formal negation, placed before a verb)
没有；不曾。多用于书面语，放在动词前面。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 未来wèi láifuture; the time to come未 = wèi
- 从未cóng wèinever; never before未 = wèi
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 未 mean?
未 (wèi) means not yet; have not; did not (formal negation, placed before a verb).
How do you pronounce 未?
It is pronounced wèi.
What parts is 未 made of?
一 (one) and 木 (tree; wood). The recorded source is: Unicode U+672A and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (stroke 1 = short 横; strokes 2-5 = 木 横竖撇捺). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 未 have?
5. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 未?
木. 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 未?
Common ones are 未来 and 从未. The reading of 未 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.