How to Write 雾 (wù) — Meaning “Fog”

Imagine that the top part 雨 looks like a cloud releasing raindrops, and the bottom part 务 sounds like 'woo'—like a foghorn sound you hear in thick fog. So you can remember: when rain meets a 'woo' sound, it becomes fog.

The top radical 雨 must be written wide enough to cover the bottom 务. A common mistake is making the 雨 too narrow or forgetting the short horizontal stroke inside the top horizontal line. Also, the bottom part 务 has four strokes: a left-falling stroke (撇) that should not touch the 雨 radical above.

雪 (xuě, snow) also has the 雨 radical but uses a different phonetic component (彐). 雾 means fog, while 雪 means snow. 雩 (yú) is a rare character meaning 'to pray for rain'—it shares the 雨 radical but has 于 below. Unlike 雾 and 雪, 雩 is almost never used in modern Chinese.

雾 is common in weather reports, such as 大雾 (heavy fog) or 雾霾 (smog), which is a serious environmental issue in many Chinese cities. Culturally, fog often appears in poetry and art to create a mysterious or melancholic atmosphere. The term 雾霾 is especially relevant in discussions about air pollution in China.

Common words containing 雾 include: 大雾 (dà wù) — Heavy fog; 雾霾 (wù mái) — Smog; 雾气 (wù qì) — Mist.