How to Write 蜈 (wú) — Meaning “Centipede”

Imagine a centipede (虫) with many legs wriggling under the afternoon sun — "吴" sounds like "wu" as in "woo!" It’s too hot. Picture the centipede saying "Woo!" as it scurries away, combining the insect radical with the sound 吴.

Write the left radical 虫 first (three strokes: vertical, horizontal, dot, then horizontal and vertical hook, then dot). Then write the right part 吴 (seven strokes: top left vertical, horizontal, horizontal, then bottom part with horizontal, vertical, horizontal, and left-falling stroke). Keep the left side slightly narrower than the right, and ensure the bottom of 吴 aligns with the bottom of 虫.

蜈 (wú) means "centipede" and is used in 蜈蚣 (wú gōng). 蚯 (qiū) appears in 蚯蚓 (qiū yǐn, earthworm) and has the phonetic 丘 (hill). 蚰 (yóu) is used in 蚰蜒 (yóu yán, house centipede) and has phonetic 由. Visually, the right side differs: 蜈 uses 吴, 蚯 uses 丘, and 蚰 uses 由.

蜈 appears almost exclusively in the word 蜈蚣 (centipede), a common insect. It is not a high-frequency character and does not appear in the HSK vocabulary. In Chinese culture, centipedes are sometimes used in traditional medicine (e.g., 蜈蚣药) and are also one of the "five poisonous creatures" (五毒) in folklore.

Common words containing 蜈 include: 蜈蚣 (wú gōng) — Centipede; 大蜈蚣 (dà wú gōng) — Large centipede; 蜈蚣药 (wú gōng yào) — Centipede medicine.