Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced wu
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced wu, including 无 wú, 物 wù, 务 wù, 五 wǔ, 武 wǔ. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…
How to Pronounce This Syllable
wu is a whole syllable (the sound of 五/无). The w is a glide that rounds the lips straight into an “oo”; keep it as one smooth sound.
Initial w
Start the syllable on the initial w, then run straight into the final u — keep them joined instead of sounding out separate English letters.
Final u
Keep the lips rounded.
Study Tip
Start with the most common characters (无 wú, 物 wù, 务 wù, 五 wǔ, 武 wǔ) and lock in their tones. 18 common characters share the sound wu, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
wu turns up here with 4 different tones; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.
1st tone
Taking the 1st tone here: 屋, 乌, 污… (4 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
2nd tone
Taking the 2nd tone here: 无, 吴, 吾 (3 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
3rd tone
Taking the 3rd tone here: 五, 武, 恶… (6 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
4th tone
Taking the 4th tone here: 物, 务, 误… (5 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing wu inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
18 common characters in this group.