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污

Mandarin · pinyin wū

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污: wū · filthy, dirty, impure, polluted

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1 · wu1

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1character link25same-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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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

waa1 · wu1 · wu3

Cantonese word readings for 污. 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

dirt; filth
unclean; dirty; filthy
rotten; corrupt
to make dirty; to pollute; to stain
to defile; to smear; to tarnish
(literary) alternative form of 洿 (wū, “stagnant pool; puddle”)
(literary) low-lying
(literary) low; lowly
(literary) decline
(China, Internet slang, humorous) embarrassing; obscene; erotic; blue; pornographic

character · Etymology 2

(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) to wash away dirt

character · Etymology 4

(Wu) alternative form of 惡 /恶 (“excrement; faeces; dung”)

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

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