How to Write 乌 (wū) — Meaning “black / dark”

Imagine a crow (乌) sitting on a branch, with its round body missing one leg — the character looks like a bird with only one dot for an eye. The dot on top is the bird’s head, and the missing stroke below reminds you it's a dark, mysterious bird.

Start with the left-falling stroke (丿), then draw the horizontal hook (㇉) from left to right without lifting the pen. The third stroke is a vertical hook (亅), and finally add the top dot (丶) — make sure the dot is above the horizontal line, not touching it. A common mistake is writing the dot too low or making the horizontal stroke too long.

乌 means 'black' or 'crow' and has a dot on top, while 丹 (dān) means 'cinnabar' or 'red' and has a dot in the middle of its horizontal stroke. 乂 (yì) is a simple cross shape meaning 'to govern' or 'mow', with no dot at all. Visually, 乌 looks like a bird, 丹 like a pill, and 乂 like an X.

乌 is commonly found in words like 乌鸦 (crow), 乌龟 (turtle), and 乌云 (dark clouds), all referring to black or dark things. Culturally, 乌 is part of the idiom 乌合之众 (wū hé zhī zhòng), meaning a disorderly crowd like a flock of crows, and 乌 is also the name of the Wū clan in ancient China.

Common words containing 乌 include: 乌鸦 (wū yā) — crow / raven; 乌龟 (wū guī) — turtle / tortoise; 乌云 (wū yún) — dark clouds.