沃 meaning and stroke order
To water, to irrigate; fertile, rich
How to write 沃, stroke by stroke
7 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
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- 7
Meaning of 沃
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- fertile
- rich
- to irrigate
- to wash (of river)
How 沃 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Water.
氵 gives the meaning and 夭 hints at the sound.
Radical: 氵 (water), shared by 467 characters on this site.
How to remember 沃
沃 is built from the water radical 氵 plus 夭 (yāo), which gives the sound. Picture water flowing beside a young plant 夭, soaking the soil until the land becomes rich and fertile.
沃 is mostly used in written or formal Chinese to describe fertile land, and it rarely appears alone in speech. The most common word is 肥沃 (féiwò). Example: 这里的土地很肥沃。(Zhèlǐ de tǔdì hěn féiwò.) The land here is very fertile.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse the right side 夭 with 天 (tiān), but 夭 starts with a slanted stroke at the top instead of a flat horizontal line. Also remember the tone is fourth tone wò, not wō or wǒ.
Common words with 沃
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 肥沃 | féiwò | fertile | HSK 7-9 |
沃 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 沃
How many strokes are in 沃?
沃 is written with 7 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 沃 mean?
沃 (wò) means to water, to irrigate; fertile, rich. A common word with it is 肥沃 (féiwò), meaning "fertile".
How do you pronounce 沃?
沃 is pronounced wò, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 沃?
The radical of 沃 is 氵, which carries the idea of "water". Dictionaries list 沃 under this radical.
Is 沃 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 沃 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
Is 沃 the same wò as in 我 (wǒ) or 握 (wò)?
No. They only share a similar sound. 我 (wǒ) means I or me, and 握 (wò) means to grasp, while 沃 relates to water and fertile soil.
Can 沃 be used to mean watering plants in everyday speech?
Not usually. The irrigate sense is literary, and in daily life people say 浇水 (jiāo shuǐ) for watering plants. In modern Chinese you will mostly meet 沃 in 肥沃 and in names.