How to Write 寤 (wù) — Meaning “To wake up; awake.”

Imagine you are sleeping under a roof (宀), and suddenly you exclaim 'Woo!' (sounds like wù) as you wake up. The lower part 吾 can be broken into 'five mouths' (五口) but think of it as your own mouth saying 'I'm awake!' This connects sound and meaning.

Write the roof radical 宀 first (dot, horizontal, left hook), then the lower part 吾. The lower part has five horizontal strokes; make sure the three horizontal lines in the 'mouth' (口) are parallel and evenly spaced. A common mistake is making the lower part too wide or mixing the order of the strokes in 吾—remember the vertical stroke through the first two horizontals comes before the 'mouth'.

寤 (wù) means 'to wake up,' while 富 (fù) means 'wealthy' and 寐 (mèi) means 'to sleep.' Visually, 寤 has 吾 under a roof, 富 has a roof with a 'mouth' and a 'field' (畐), and 寐 has a roof with a bed (未) below. In usage, 寤 is rare in modern Chinese and often appears in classical phrases, whereas 富 is very common, and 寐 appears in literary contexts like 'sleepless' (不寐).

寤 is not used in everyday speech today; it appears mainly in classical idioms or literary works. The common word 寤寐 (wù mèi) means 'waking and sleeping' and is used in phrases like '寤寐求之' from the Book of Songs, describing longing day and night. Another cultural note is 寤生 (wù shēng), meaning 'breech birth,' from the story of Zheng Zhuanggong in the Zuo Zhuan, but this usage is very rare.

Common words containing 寤 include: 寤寐 (wù mèi) — Waking and sleeping; day and night.; 寤生 (wù shēng) — Breech birth.; 寤思 (wù sī) — To think about while awake; to long for..