Meaning
five; 5
Chinese: 数字五。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “wu” becomes a different word in each tone. 五 is the 3rd tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.
Stroke Order
Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.
Common Words
- 五颜六色wǔ yán liù sèmulticolored; every color under the sun
- 五星级wǔ xīng jífive-star (hotel)
- 五花八门wǔ huā bā ménmyriad; all kinds of; all sorts of
- 三番五次sān fān wǔ cìover and over again (idiom)
- 五一wǔ yī5-1 (May 1st)
Example Sentence
我每天工作五个小时。Wǒ měi tiān gōng zuò wǔ ge xiǎo shí.I work five hours every day.
我WǒI每天měi tiānevery day工作gōng zuòto work五wǔfive个ge(measure word)小时xiǎo shíhour。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
Two lines (heaven above, earth below) with a cross between them — a counting sign that came to mean ‘five’.
A way to remember it
A cross squeezed between a top and bottom line — five.
Easy to confuse with
- 互‘Mutual’: a similar top-and-bottom frame, but the middle interlocks the other way.