塢 meaning and stroke order
Bank, entrenchment, low wall; dock
How to write 塢, 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.
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Meaning of 塢
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- (bound form) low area within a surrounding barrier
- (literary) small castle; fort
How 塢 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Earth.
土 gives the meaning and 烏 hints at the sound.
Radical: 土 (soil), shared by 183 characters on this site.
How to remember 塢
塢 combines 土 (earth) with 烏 (wū, crow), which gives the sound. Picture a crow perched on a low earthen wall built around a sheltered area.
Today 塢 mostly appears in set words like 船塢 (chuánwù, dock, shipyard). It also shows up in place names and in the borrowed name 好萊塢 (Hǎoláiwù, Hollywood). Example: 這艘船正在船塢裡修理。(Zhè sōu chuán zhèngzài chuánwù lǐ xiūlǐ.) This ship is being repaired in the dock.
Common mistake: Learners often read 塢 as wū because its sound part 烏 is wū, but 塢 is fourth tone, wù. Also do not confuse 烏 with 鳥 (niǎo, bird). 烏 lacks the short inner stroke that 鳥 has.
Common words with 塢
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 船塢 | chuánwù | dock; shipyard |
Questions about 塢
How many strokes are in 塢?
塢 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 塢 mean?
塢 (wù) means bank, entrenchment, low wall; dock. A common word with it is 船坞 (chuánwù), meaning "dock; shipyard".
How do you pronounce 塢?
塢 is pronounced wù, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 塢?
The radical of 塢 is 土, which carries the idea of "soil". Dictionaries list 塢 under this radical.
What is the simplified form of 塢?
塢 is a traditional character. Its simplified form is 坞, used in mainland China and Singapore.
Why is Hollywood written 好萊塢 in Chinese?
It is a sound transliteration. 好萊 (hǎolái) approximates "Holly" and 塢 (wù) approximates "wood". The characters were chosen for sound, not meaning.
Can 塢 be used alone as a word?
Rarely in modern speech. It is a bound form, so you usually meet it inside compounds like 船塢 or in literary texts meaning a small fort.