Definify.com
Definition 2025
武
武
Translingual
Han character
武 (radical 77 止+4, 8 strokes, cangjie input 一心卜中一 (MPYLM), four-corner 13140)
Descendants
References
- KangXi: page 575, character 9
- Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 16273
- Dae Jaweon: page 965, character 8
- Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 2, page 1439, character 5
- Unihan data for U+6B66
Chinese
|
simp. and trad. |
武 | |
|---|---|---|
Glyph origin
| Historical forms of the character 武
| ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oracle bone script | Bronze inscriptions | Bamboo and silk script | Large seal script | Small seal script |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Characters in the same phonetic series (武) (Zhengzhang, 2003) | |
|---|---|
| Old Chinese | |
| 賦 | *mpas |
| 陚 | *mpas |
| 武 | *maʔ |
| 鵡 | *maʔ |
| 珷 | *maʔ |
| 碔 | *maʔ |
| 娬 | *maʔ |
Ideogrammic compound (會意) : 止 (“foot; to walk; to stop”) + 戈 (“spear”) – army going on expedition.
The graphical origin of 武 is described in the Spring and Autumn Annals [481 BC] as “to stop violence” (止戈為武) – the ultimate state of warfare. This may be a misinterpretation as 止 is frequently used to mean “to walk”, not “to stop”.
Pronunciation
- Mandarin
- Cantonese (Jyutping): mou5
- Hakka (Sixian, PFS): vú / vû
- Min Dong (BUC): ū
- Min Nan (POJ): bú
- Wu (Wiktionary): vu (T3)
- Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese, Beijing)+
- Pinyin:
- Zhuyin: ㄨˇ
- Wade-Giles: wu3
- Gwoyeu Romatzyh: wuu
- IPA (key): /u²¹⁴/
- (Standard Chinese, Beijing)+
- Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)+
- Jyutping: mou5
- Yale: móuh
- Cantonese Pinyin: mou5
- IPA (key): /mou̯¹³/
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)+
- Hakka
- (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
- Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: vú / vû
- Hakka Romanization System: vu` / vu´
- Hagfa Pinyim: vu3 / vu1
- IPA: /vu³¹/, /vu²⁴/
- (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
- Min Dong
- (Fuzhou)
- Bàng-uâ-cê: ū
- IPA (key): /u³³/
- (Fuzhou)
- Min Nan
- (Hokkien)
- Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bú
- Tâi-lô: bú
- Phofsit Daibuun: buo
- IPA (Xiamen): /bu⁵³/
- IPA (Quanzhou): /bu⁵⁵⁴/
- IPA (Zhangzhou): /bu⁵³/
- IPA (Taipei): /bu⁵³/
- IPA (Kaohsiung): /bu⁴¹/
- (Hokkien)
- Wu
- (Shanghainese)
- Wiktionary: vu (T3)
- IPA (key): /v̻v̩ʷ²³/
- (Shanghainese)
- Dialectal data▼
| Variety | Location | 武 |
|---|---|---|
| Mandarin | Beijing | /u²¹⁴/ |
| Harbin | /u²¹³/ | |
| Tianjin | /u¹³/ | |
| Jinan | /u⁵⁵/ | |
| Qingdao | /vu⁵⁵/ | |
| Zhengzhou | /u⁵³/ | |
| Xi'an | /vu⁵³/ | |
| Xining | /v̩⁵³/ | |
| Yinchuan | /vu⁵³/ | |
| Lanzhou | /vu⁴⁴²/ | |
| Ürümqi | /vu⁵¹/ | |
| Wuhan | /u⁴²/ | |
| Chengdu | /u⁵³/ | |
| Guiyang | /u⁴²/ | |
| Kunming | /u⁵³/ | |
| Nanjing | /u²¹²/ | |
| Hefei | /u²⁴/ | |
| Jin | Taiyuan | /vu⁵³/ |
| Pingyao | /u⁵³/ | |
| Hohhot | /vu⁵³/ | |
| Wu | Shanghai | /vu²³/ |
| Suzhou | /vu³¹/ | |
| Hangzhou | /ʔu⁵³/ | |
| Wenzhou | /vu³⁵/ | |
| Hui | Shexian | /u³⁵/ |
| Tunxi | /u³¹/ | |
| Xiang | Changsha | /u⁴¹/ |
| Xiangtan | /u⁴²/ | |
| Gan | Nanchang | /u²¹³/ |
| Hakka | Meixian | /vu⁴⁴/ |
| Taoyuan | /vu³¹/ | |
| Cantonese | Guangzhou | /mou²³/ |
| Nanning | /mu²⁴/ | |
| Hong Kong | /mou¹³/ | |
| Min | Xiamen (Min Nan) | /bu⁵³/ |
| Fuzhou (Min Dong) | /u³²/ | |
| Jian'ou (Min Bei) | /u²¹/ | |
| Shantou (Min Nan) | /bu⁵³/ | |
| Haikou (Min Nan) | /vu²¹³/ |
| Rime | |
|---|---|
| Character | 武 |
| Reading # | 1/1 |
| Initial (聲) | 明 (4) |
| Final (韻) | 虞 (24) |
| Tone (調) | Rising (X) |
| Openness (開合) | Closed |
| Division (等) | III |
| Fanqie | 文甫切 |
| Reconstructions | |
| Zhengzhang Shangfang |
/mɨoX/ |
| Pan Wuyun |
/mioX/ |
| Shao Rongfen |
/mioX/ |
| Edwin Pulleyblank |
/muə̆X/ |
| Li Rong |
/mioX/ |
| Wang Li |
/mĭuX/ |
| Bernard Karlgren |
/mi̯uX/ |
| Expected Mandarin Reflex |
wǔ |
| Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014) | |
|---|---|
| Character | 武 |
| Reading # | 1/1 |
| Modern Beijing (Pinyin) |
wǔ |
| Middle Chinese |
‹ mjuX › |
| Old Chinese |
/*m(r)aʔ/ |
| English | military |
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter-Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; | |
| Zhengzhang system (2003) | |
|---|---|
| Character | 武 |
| Reading # | 1/1 |
| No. | 13184 |
| Phonetic component |
武 |
| Rime group |
魚 |
| Rime subdivision |
0 |
| Corresponding MC rime |
武 |
| Old Chinese |
/*maʔ/ |
Definitions
武
- military; forces
- military (related to warfare, fighting)
- martial arts; wushu
- valiant; brave; courageous
- soldier; warrior
- footstep; footprint
- Classifier for half steps.
- to inherit
- A surname.
Compounds
Derived terms from 武
|
|
|
Japanese
Kanji
武
Readings
- Goon: む (mu)
- Kan’on: ぶ (bu)
- Kun: たけ.し (武し, take.shi)
- Nanori: う (u), お (o), たけし (takeshi), たける (takeru), たけん (taken), ん (n)
Compounds
Compounds
Etymology 1
| Kanji in this term |
|---|
| 武 |
|
む Grade: 5 |
| on'yomi |
From Middle Chinese 武 (mjuX, “military”).
The goon reading of mu, so likely the initial borrowing.
Pronunciation
Affix
Usage notes
Only found in compounds. Not as common as the bu reading.
Derived terms
Etymology 2
| Kanji in this term |
|---|
| 武 |
|
ぶ Grade: 5 |
| on'yomi |
From Middle Chinese 武 (mjuX, “military”).
The kan'on reading of bu, so likely a re-borrowing at a later stage of Middle Chinese, or from a dialectal variation in Middle Chinese.
Pronunciation
Noun
- courage, ferocity, valor
- military power, force of arms
- the act of carrying out military force: a battle, a war
- the way of carrying out military force: strategy, tactics, martial arts
- a military person: an officer, a soldier
- (obsolete) a unit of length, equivalent to half of a 歩 (bu, six 尺 (shaku), roughly six feet or 1.8 meters), roughly equivalent to one yard or 90 centimeters
Derived terms
Derived terms
|
Synonyms
Synonyms
Etymology 3
Ateji used in various names.
Proper noun
武 (hiragana たけし, romaji Takeshi)
- A male given name
武 (hiragana たける, romaji Takeru)
- A male given name
References
- 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
Korean
Hanja
武 • (mu) (hangeul 무, revised mu, McCune-Reischauer mu, Yale mu)
- This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text
{{rfdef}}.