How to Write 呒 (wǔ) — Meaning “not / have not (dialect)”

Imagine a mouth (口) saying "wǔ" while holding up a sign that says "无" (none) – the mouth is announcing there is nothing. This visual link between the mouth and the concept of "not having" helps you recall that 呒 means "not" or "have not" in dialect. You can also think of the phrase "呒没" (wǔ méi) as "woo me" – as in "woo me? No, I have nothing!"

First write the 口 radical with three strokes: vertical, horizontal fold, then the bottom horizontal. Then write 无 with four strokes: horizontal, left-falling stroke, vertical hook (curved, not straight), and finally a dot on the upper right. A common mistake is making the vertical hook of 无 too straight or forgetting the dot – keep the hook gentle and place the dot carefully above the hook end.

呒 (wǔ) has 口 on the left and 无 on the right, and it means "not" in dialect. 古 (gǔ) has 十 on top of 口 and means "ancient" – it is a very common character in standard Chinese. 卟 (bǔ) has 口 on the left and 卜 on the right, and is a rare character used mainly in chemical terms like "卟啉" (porphin) – it looks similar but has a different right side and meaning.

呒 is not used in standard Mandarin; it appears mainly in Wu dialects such as Shanghainese, where it replaces 不 or 没. For example, 呒没 (wǔ méi) means "not have" and 呒啥 (wǔ shá) means "nothing" or "it's nothing". You might hear it in regional TV shows or classic Shanghai opera, but it is not taught in HSK because of its limited dialectal scope.

Common words containing 呒 include: 呒没 (wǔ méi) — not have / none (dialect); 呒啥 (wǔ shá) — nothing / it's nothing (dialect); 呒奈 (wǔ nài) — helpless / no way out (dialect).