How to Write 吴 (wú) — Meaning “Wu (a surname)”

Imagine a person opening their mouth (口) to shout under the big sky (天). This visual connects the top and bottom parts: you open your mouth (口) to say "Wu" while looking at the sky (天).

Write the top part 口 first (three strokes: vertical, horizontal fold, horizontal), then the bottom part 天 (four strokes: two horizontals, then left-falling stroke, then right-falling stroke). A common mistake is making the bottom stroke of 口 too wide, which unbalances the character; keep it narrow so the top and bottom align vertically.

吴 has a top part 口 above 天, while 古 is 十 above 口 (meaning "ancient") and 卟 is 口 above 卜 (used in transliteration). Visually, 吴 looks like a mouth over sky, whereas 古 has a cross above a mouth, and 卟 has a mouth above a divination symbol.

吴 is most commonly used as a Chinese surname, as in 吴先生 (Mr. Wu). It also appears in historical names like 东吴 (Eastern Wu, a kingdom during the Three Kingdoms period) and in the term 吴语 (Wu Chinese, a group of dialects spoken in the Shanghai and Jiangsu region).

Common words containing 吴 include: 吴先生 (wú xiān shēng) — Mr. Wu; 吴语 (wú yǔ) — Wu Chinese; 东吴 (dōng wú) — Eastern Wu (one of the Three Kingdoms).