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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

Chinese

五

wǔ
five
  • Pictogram
  • HSK 1
  • TOCFL 1
  • radical 二
  • 4 strokes

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Origin

Originally written 𠄡, consisting of 㐅 with a bar on the top and bottom. Original meaning is unclear. Theories include:

* Yu Shenwu: a tally mark.

* Ding Shan: original form of 互 (OC *ɡaːs, “to cross”).

* Zhang Bingquan: Pictogram (象形): palm lines from extending ones fingers

* Ji Xusheng: 亖 (“four”) with an added stroke.

* Lin Yiguang: original meaning is jiāowǔ 交午, with 午 (OC *ŋaːʔ) being the original form of the wooden pestle.

In 韋, the upper component (𫝀) is the stylization of a footprint, hence it is similar but unrelated to 五.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *l-ŋaʔ (“five”).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

Meanings

character
  1. five
  2. a surname, Wu (Mainland China, Taiwan) and Ng (Hong Kong)
  3. The size of type between 小五 (xiǎowǔ) (little 5) and 小四 (xiǎosì) (little 4), standardized as 10½ point.

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

五：五行也。从二，陰陽在天地閒交午也。凡五之屬皆从五。

Xu Shen, c. 100 CE — the first analytical dictionary of Chinese characters.

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 介於四與六之間的自然數。大寫作「伍」。阿拉伯數字作「5」。 例：三皇五帝、五馬分屍、五權憲法

© Ministry of Education, Taiwan — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW, shown unaltered.

How 五 was written 字形演變

  1. 五 in Oracle bone script
    Oracle bone
    甲骨文
    Shang, c. 1250–1050 BCE
  2. 五 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  3. 五 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  4. 五 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  5. 五 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  6. 五 in Regular script
    Regular
    楷書
    since c. 200 CE

Historical forms collected by the legacy etymfun dataset; most characters have several attested variants.

Sources

  • Historical glyph forms (zdic.net 字形演变) — Rights unverified
  • HSK / TOCFL word lists — Facts (levels)
  • 教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
  • 說文解字 Shuowen Jiezi (Xu Shen, c. 100 CE) — Public domain
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 五