嗚 meaning and stroke order
The sound of someone crying or sobbing
How to write 嗚, stroke by stroke
13 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
Meaning of 嗚
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- (onom.) for humming or whimpering
How 嗚 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Mouth.
口 gives the meaning and 烏 hints at the sound.
Radical: 口 (mouth), shared by 428 characters on this site.
How to remember 嗚
嗚 is a mouth 口 next to 烏 (wū, crow), which gives the sound. Picture a mouth making a low, sad wū sound like a crow's call, and you have crying or whimpering.
嗚 is an onomatopoeia for sobbing, humming, or a low moaning sound like wind or a horn. It often appears doubled or in set words like 嗚咽 (wūyè, to sob) and the literary 嗚呼 (wūhū, alas). Example: 她嗚嗚地哭了起來。(Tā wūwū de kū le qǐlái.) She started sobbing.
Common mistake: Learners often drop the 口 and write 烏 (wū, crow) alone, or confuse 烏 with 鳥 (niǎo, bird), which has one extra stroke inside. The sound word needs the mouth radical: 嗚, simplified 呜.
Common words with 嗚
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
Questions about 嗚
How many strokes are in 嗚?
嗚 is written with 13 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 嗚 mean?
嗚 (wū) means the sound of someone crying or sobbing. A common word with it is 呜咽 (wūyè), meaning "to sob; to whimper".
How do you pronounce 嗚?
嗚 is pronounced wū, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 嗚?
The radical of 嗚 is 口, which carries the idea of "mouth". Dictionaries list 嗚 under this radical.
What is the simplified form of 嗚?
嗚 is a traditional character. Its simplified form is 呜, used in mainland China and Singapore.
What is the difference between 嗚 and 烏?
They share the same pronunciation, wū. 烏 means crow or black, while 嗚 adds 口 and is used only for sounds like sobbing or humming.
Is 嗚呼 used in everyday speech?
Not much. 嗚呼 (wūhū) is a literary exclamation meaning alas, found in classical texts and eulogies. Online people sometimes use it jokingly to sound dramatic.