烏

Translingual

Han character

烏 (Kangxi radical 86, 火+6, 10 strokes, cangjie input 竹口卜火 (HRYF), four-corner 2732₇, composition ⿱丿⿹⿺㇉⿱コ一灬)

Derived characters

• 𠌥(𠆿), 𭂛, 𠭬, 嗚(呜), 塢(坞), 𡠄, 嵨, 𢄓, 𢞬, 摀, 溩, 隖(𬮻), 㮧, 熓(𤆡), 瑦, 䃖, 𥻼, 螐, 𧪛, 䡧, 鎢(钨), 𨻑, 𪦭, 䖚, 𩈺, 𩌗, 𩝷, 鰞, 𪄝, 𠥹, 𪏝
• 𣯑, 𧽋, 𠞆(𠛆), 鄔(邬), 歍, 𣦑, 𫸼, 𬚭, 𫕜, 𤑎, 𫖤, 𦶀, 𩮮, 𤸼, 𨶇, 𡈎

Related characters

• 乌 (Simplified Chinese)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 670, character 1
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 18998
• Dae Jaweon: page 1079, character 2
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 2202, character 3
• Unihan data for U+70CF

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 烏
Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script

Pictogram (象形) – a bird. Compare 鳥 (“bird”), of similar development.

Etymology

“crow; black; dark”

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ka-n (“crow”) (STEDT). Doublet of 鴉 (OC *qraː, “crow; raven”), which retains the earlier vowel in Middle Chinese (*ʔˠa), and 鸒 (OC *la, *las, “jackdaw”).

Schuessler (2007) considers it to be onomatopoeic, and compares it with Proto-Loloish *akᴸ (“crow”).

“Black; dark” is a semantic extension of “crow” – “black as a crow”. Compare 黑 (OC *hmlɯːɡ, “black”), which is cognate with 墨 (OC *mlɯːɡ, “ink”).

“sun”

The Three-legged crow was thought to reside in the Sun.

interrogative pronoun

Related to the following interrogative pronouns with similar phonological shapes in Old Chinese (Wang, 1982), with differing suffixes:

• 焉 (OC *qan, *qran, “how; where”)
• 惡 (OC *qaː, “how”)
• 安 (OC *qaːn, “where; how; why”)

Pronunciation

Definitions

烏

1. crow; raven; rook

   • 莫赤匪狐、莫黑匪烏。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
     莫赤匪狐、莫黑匪乌。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11^th – 7^th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Mò chì fěi hú, mò hēi fěi wū.

     Nothing red is seen but foxes, nothing black but crows.

2. (obsolete, metonymically) sun

   兔走烏飛／兔走乌飞  ―  tùzǒuwūfēi  ―  time passes quickly (literally, “the rabbit runs and the crow flies”)

3. (literary or in compounds or Hakka, Min) black; dark

   烏雲／乌云  ―  wūyún  ―  dark cloud

   烏油油／乌油油  ―  wūyóuyóu  ―  glossy black

   嘴唇發烏／嘴唇发乌  ―  zuǐchún fā wū  ―  one's lips turn black

   • 匈奴騎，其西方盡白馬，東方盡青駹馬，北方盡烏驪馬，南方盡騂馬。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     匈奴骑，其西方尽白马，东方尽青𮪡马，北方尽乌骊马，南方尽骍马。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE

     Xiōngnú qí, qí xīfāng jìn báimǎ, dōngfāng jìn qīng máng mǎ, běifāng jìn wū lí mǎ, nánfāng jìn xīng mǎ.

     The mounted troops of the Xiongnu on the west all had white horses; on the east, all blue-green horses; on the north, all black horses; on the south, all red horses.

   • 天烏烏，欲落雨。 [Hokkien, trad.]
     天乌乌，欲落雨。 [Hokkien, simp.]

     From: 天烏烏 (A Hokkien nursery rhyme)

     Thiⁿ o͘-o͘, beh lo̍h-hō͘. [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]

     The sky is dark; it seems like it will rain.

4. (literary) to dye black
5. (literary) An interrogative pronoun with a variety of meanings, including "how", "why", "where", etc.
6. Short for 烏克蘭／乌克兰 (Wūkèlán, “Ukraine”).

   俄烏戰爭／俄乌战争  ―  É Wū zhànzhēng  ―  Russia-Ukraine War

7. a surname

Synonyms

See also

• 惡／恶 (è)

Compounds

References

• “烏”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A02407

Japanese

Kanji

(“Jinmeiyō” kanji used for names)

Readings

• Go-on: う (u)
• Kan-on: お (o)^{←を (wo, historical)}
• Kan’yō-on: え (e)
• Kun: からす (karasu, 烏); いずくんぞ (izukunzo, 烏んぞ)^{←いづくんぞ (idukunzo, 烏んぞ, historical)}; なんぞ (nanzo, 烏ぞ)

Compounds

• 烏賊(いか) (ika): squid, cuttlefish
• 烏帽子(えぼし) (eboshi)
• 烏秋(オウチュウ) (ōchū)

Etymology 1

Derived terms

Etymology 2

From Middle Chinese 烏 (MC 'u).

The goon pronunciation, so likely the initial borrowing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Affix

烏(う) • (u) 

1. crow; raven
2. black; dark
3. (figuratively) sun
4. A Chinese interrogative for rhetorical questions.

   烏(う)有(ゆう) ― uyū ― (literally “not-have”) nonexistence; nothing

Derived terms

Kikai

Kanji

(“Jinmeiyō” kanji used for names)

Etymology

Cognate with Japanese 烏 (karasu).

Noun

烏(がらさー) or 烏(がるさー) (garasā or garusā) 

1. crow, raven

Korean

Hanja

烏 • (o) (hangeul 오, revised o, McCune–Reischauer o, Yale o)

1. Hanja form^? of 오 (“crow”).

Northern Amami-Oshima

Kanji

(“Jinmeiyō” kanji used for names)

Etymology

Cognate with Japanese 烏 (karasu).

Noun

烏(がらすぃ) (garasï) 

1. crow, raven

Oki-No-Erabu

Kanji

(“Jinmeiyō” kanji used for names)

Etymology

Cognate with Japanese 烏 (karasu).

Noun

烏(がらし) (garashi) 

1. crow, raven

Okinawan

Kanji

(“Jinmeiyō” kanji used for names)

Etymology

Cognate with Japanese 烏 (karasu).

Noun

烏(がらし) (garashi) 

1. crow, raven

Vietnamese

Han character

烏: Hán Nôm readings: ô

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Yonaguni

Kanji

(“Jinmeiyō” kanji used for names)

Etymology

Cognate with Japanese 烏 (karasu).

Noun

烏(がらち) (garachi) 

1. crow, raven