兀 (wù): (literary) towering; rising to…

Meanings

1 (literary) towering; rising to a height
2 (literary) bald; bare
3 (literary) still; yet

Characters

兀

wù

towering; bald; bare; still

Examples

一座兀立的山峰出现在眼前。

Yī zuò wùlì de shānfēng chūxiàn zài yǎnqián.

A towering peak appeared before their eyes.

兀自在那里等着，不肯离去。

Wù zìzài nàlǐ děng zhe, bùkěn líqù.

He still stood there waiting, unwilling to leave.

Tips

usage

兀 is a classical/literary character rarely used in modern speech on its own. It appears in compounds like 兀立 (to stand upright/towering), 兀自 (still/yet), and is sometimes a surname (吴/Wu variant).

Components

radical

儿 rén

person; legs (variant of 人)

Bottom 儿 — the indexing radical, the bottom-position form of 人 showing the two legs of a standing figure. Together with the flat top, the whole character pictures a person whose head has been pressed level — the original 'bare-headed, towering, eminent' sense. Same radical groups 兀 with 元 (origin — head + legs), 兄 (elder brother), 充 (fill).

ideograph

一 yī

one; flat top

Top stroke 一 — an abstract marker indicating 'high and level'. Not the number 'one' in meaning, but the same horizontal stroke used as a position indicator placed above a figure. The classical reading: a horizontal above a person, signifying that the top is flat and high — the picture of something towering with a sliced-off crown.