涡 (wō) is a Chinese character meaning “whirlpool”. It is written from 氵 (water (left-side form)) and 呙 (crooked mouth (sound component in 锅, 祸, 涡)), side by side, and takes 10 strokes.
Build the character for “whirlpool”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
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Structure
氵 + 呙
Left–right structure
Structure from: 说文解字「渦，水……从水咼聲」（咼简化作呙）；IDS 拆分 ⿰氵呙，并以 hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验：笔画 0–2 为「氵」三点，笔画 3–9 与「呙」逐笔对应（3+7=10画）
Memory aid
Water (氵) beside 呙, a mouth (口) sitting on an open frame: water pulled round and round into a mouth — a whirlpool.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
10 strokes
In real words
- 漩涡xuán wōwhirlpool; vortex涡 = wō
- 涡轮wō lúnturbine涡 = wō
Go deeper
All readings
whirlpool; eddy
whirlpool; eddy; something shaped like a swirl (as in dimple, turbine)
水流旋转形成的中间低洼处；也指形状像漩涡的东西。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 漩涡xuán wōwhirlpool; vortex涡 = wō
- 涡轮wō lúnturbine涡 = wō
Rare readings, not taught: guō
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 涡 mean?
涡 (wō) means whirlpool; eddy; something shaped like a swirl (as in dimple, turbine).
How do you pronounce 涡?
It is pronounced wō.
What parts is 涡 made of?
氵 (water (left-side form)) and 呙 (crooked mouth (sound component in 锅, 祸, 涡)), side by side. The recorded source is: 说文解字「渦，水……从水咼聲」（咼简化作呙）；IDS 拆分 ⿰氵呙，并以 hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验：笔画 0–2 为「氵」三点，笔画 3–9 与「呙」逐笔对应（3+7=10画）. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 涡 have?
10. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 涡?
氵. 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 涡?
Common ones are 漩涡 and 涡轮. The reading of 涡 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.