伍

Mandarin · pinyin wǔ#

Meanings · wǔ

  1. squad of five soldiers
  2. to associate with
  3. five (banker's anti-fraud numeral)
Mandarin · pinyin Wǔ#

Meanings · Wǔ

  1. surname Wu
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Characters in this entry

伍
wǔ · five, company of five; troops
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3 · wu3

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1character link45same-tone records
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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Compare dictionary sources Rime · Wiktionary

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

ng5

Cantonese word readings for 伍. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

character · Etymology 1

  1. troop of five soldiers
  2. (figuratively) military
  3. ally; company
  4. (financial) alternative form of 五 (“five”)
  5. a surname, Wu, Woo, Ng, and Eng

character · Etymology 2

  1. (music) Kunqu gongche notation for the note high la (6̇).

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack