仵 (wǔ): equal; a match; on a par with

Meanings

1 equal; a match; on a par with
2 a coroner; an inquest officer in old times
3 Wu (a surname)

Characters

仵

wǔ

equal; coroner (in 仵作); surname

Examples

HSK 3

两人本领相仵，不分高下。

Liǎng rén běnlǐng xiāng wǔ, bù fēn gāoxià.

The two are evenly matched in skill, neither below the other.

HSK 7-9

只怕被仵作看出破绽。

Zhǐ pà bèi wǔzuò kànchū pòzhàn.

They feared the coroner would spot a flaw before the body was encoffined.

Tips

culture

仵 is mostly met today in 仵作, the old word for a coroner who examined bodies, familiar from period crime dramas. Its older sense is 'equal, well-matched'. It is also a surname.

Components

radical

亻 rén

person

亻 is the person radical, the left-side form of 人. It fits all the senses, since 'an equal', a coroner, and a surname all refer to people.

phonetic

午 wǔ

noon; the seventh Earthly Branch

午 supplies the exact sound wǔ. Its meaning 'noon' is unrelated; it works as the phonetic beside the person radical, and the same 午 gives 忤 (to disobey).