物
Meanings
- (bound form) thing
- (literary) the outside world as distinct from oneself; people other than oneself
Characters in this entry
- 物
- wù · thing, substance, creature
Explore the spelling
Mandarin tones
4 · wu4
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
Connected dictionary
Sentences in context
Exact source-spelling matches. Open the reader for dictionary lookups, construction notes and related examples. Occurrence does not establish a particular dictionary sense.
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.
Compare dictionary sources Rime · Wiktionary
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
mat6
Cantonese word readings for 物. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.
CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack
Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section
Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.
character
- thing, matter
- all of the outside world, excluding oneself
- substance, content
- (abbreviation, alt-of) short for 物理 (wùlǐ, “physics”)
- to choose, to select
- to seek, to look for
- (Teochew) to do
- (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) alternative form of 勿
- (Southern Min) alternative form of 乜 (“what”)
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack