武

Stroke order

武 (Kangxi radical 77, 止+4, 8 strokes, cangjie input 一心卜中一 (MPYLM), four-corner 1314₀, composition ⿹⿽弋一止 or ⿻一⿹弋止 or ⿻㱐㇂)

• 倵, 𫪗, 𪣥, 娬, 𢯞, 陚, 斌, 𭨹, 𣓸, 𭮗, 𪸵, 珷, 𬑘, 𮀃, 碔, 𫀐, 賦(赋), 䟼, 錻, 𬷜, 𤭎, 𭭫, 虣, 𢎔, 鵡(鹉), 𫈓, 𮦔, 䝾, 𫛁

• む (Hiragana character derived from Man'yōgana)

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 575, character 9
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 16273
• Dae Jaweon: page 965, character 8
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1439, character 5
• Unihan data for U+6B66

Historical forms of the character 武
Shang	Western Zhou	Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意) : 戈 (“blade”) + 止 (“foot; to walk; to stop”) – army going on an expedition. In the character 武, the 戈 component is written above the 止 component.

The graphical origin of 武 as “to stop violence” — the ultimate state of just warfare — is traditionally attributed to King Zhuang of Chu :

Linguistically, this was likely a misinterpretation, as 止 always means “to walk” (趾) when used as a radical, compare 步 (bù), 歷 / 历 (lì) and 歧 (qí).

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *d-mak (“war, army, soldier”). Cognate with Tibetan དམག (dmag, “army”), Burmese မက် (mak) (as in ရဲမက် (rai:mak, “soldier”) (STEDT; Schuessler, 2007; Sagart, 2017d).

武

1. military (related to warfare, fighting)

   動武／动武  ―  dòngwǔ  ―  to use force (to fight, start a war, etc.)

2. martial arts; wushu

   武術／武术  ―  wǔshù  ―  martial arts

   比武  ―  bǐwǔ  ―  to compete in a martial arts contest

3. valiant; brave; courageous

   勇武  ―  yǒngwǔ  ―  valiant; courageous

4. soldier; warrior

   玄武  ―  Xuánwǔ  ―  Black Turtle (lit. "Black Warrior") (one of the Four Symbols among the constellations in Chinese astronomy)

   • 夫死生同域，不可脅陵，勇武一人，為三軍雄。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     夫死生同域，不可胁陵，勇武一人，为三军雄。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Huainanzi, 2^nd century BCE

     Fú sǐshēng tóng yù, bùkě xiélíng, yǒngwǔ yīrén, wéi sānjūn xióng.

     One for whom death and life are the same territory, who cannot be threatened, such a single brave warrior is the hero of the Three Armies.

5. footstep; footprint
6. Classifier for half steps.
7. (obsolete) to inherit
8. a surname

   武則天／武则天  ―  Wǔ Zétiān  ―  Wu Zetian (the only legitimate female sovereign in the history of China)

(Fifth grade kyōiku kanji)

• Go-on: む (mu, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: ぶ (bu, Jōyō)
• Kun: たけ (take)、たけし (takeshi, 武し)
• Nanori: う (u)、お (o)、たけし (takeshi)、たける (takeru)、たけん (taken)、ん (n)

From Middle Chinese 武 (mju^X, “military”).

The goon reading of mu, so likely the initial borrowing.

• IPA^(key):

武(む) • (mu) 

1. military, martial

Only found in compounds. Not as common as the bu reading.

From Middle Chinese 武 (mju^X, “military”).

The kan'on reading of bu, so likely a re-borrowing at a later stage of Middle Chinese, or from a dialectal variation in Middle Chinese.

• (Tokyo) ぶ (Atamadaka – )^[1]
• IPA^(key):

武(ぶ) • (bu) 

1. courage, ferocity, valor
2. military power, force of arms
3. the act of carrying out military force: a battle, a war
4. the way of carrying out military force: strategy, tactics, martial arts
5. a military person: an officer, a soldier
6. (obsolete) a unit of length, equivalent to half of a 歩 (bu, six 尺 (shaku), roughly six feet or 1.8 meters), roughly equivalent to one yard or 90 centimeters

Ateji used in various names.

武(たけし) • (Takeshi) 

1. a male given name

武(たける) • (Takeru) 

1. a male given name

• Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN

武 (eumhun 굳셀 무 (gutsel mu))

1. hanja form^? of 무 (“military nobility; soldier, warrior; weaponry, weapons”)
2. hanja form^? of 무 (“courage, honor”)
3. hanja form^? of 무 (“martial arts, wushu; to demonstrate military force: strategy, tactics, martial arts”)

• 무력 (武力, muryeok, “military force, armed might”)
• 무기 (武器, mugi, “weapon”)

武: Hán Nôm readings: vũ, võ

1. martial arts
2. (compounds) violence
3. chữ Hán form of Võ (“a surname”).

   武元甲 ― Võ Nguyên Giáp

4. chữ Hán form of Vũ (“a surname”).

   武重鳳 ― Vũ Trọng Phụng