悟

wù
verb #11,702

Meanings

  1. 1 to comprehend
  2. 2 to realize

Examples

HSK 4
她的悟性很高。
Tā de wùxìng hěn gāo.
She has great comprehension ability.
HSK 5
Tā zhōngyú lǐngwù le.
He finally understood.

Tips

memory
忄 (heart) + 吾 (I) - understanding within one's own heart.
usage
Common in 领悟 (to comprehend) and 觉悟 (awareness).

Components

radical
忄 xīn
heart; mind (left-side form)
Vertical heart radical on the left - the side-form of 心. Anchors 悟 in the mental-state family alongside 想, 忆, 怕, 怀. Carries the meaning core: comprehension and realisation are inner events of the heart-mind in classical Chinese psychology, not abstract intellectual operations divorced from feeling.
phonetic
吾 wú
I; me (literary)
Right component supplies the sound: 吾 wú → wù with tone shift. Adds a sharp semantic flavour: 吾 is the literary first-person pronoun, so 忄 + 吾 reads as 'the I-mind,' the moment when self-awareness dawns - a perfect picture of realisation. 悟空 (Sun Wukong, 'awakened to emptiness') uses exactly this sense.

Stroke Order

悟 wù