钨 (wū) · tungsten (chemistry, element W, atomic number 74)

Meanings

1 tungsten (chemistry, element W, atomic number 74)

Characters

钨

wū

tungsten

Examples

HSK 7-9

钨的熔点是所有金属中最高的。

Wū de róngdiǎn shì suǒyǒu jīnshǔ zhōng zuì gāo de.

Tungsten has the highest melting point of all metals.

HSK 7-9

灯泡里的灯丝是用钨做的。

Dēngpào lǐ de dēngsī shì yòng wū zuò de.

The filament in a lightbulb is made of tungsten.

Tips

memory

金 (metal) radical + 乌 (wū, 'crow / black') as phonetic. The 乌 hint also fits semantically: tungsten ore (wolframite) looks dark and crow-black.

culture

China holds about 80% of the world's tungsten reserves. 江西 province is the historical mining heartland.

Components

radical

钅 jīn

metal; gold

钅 is the left-side simplified metal radical (金 in standalone form). It indexes 钨 (tungsten) in the metals family alongside 铁 (iron), 铜 (copper), 锌 (zinc), 铝 (aluminium). Modern Chinese created element names systematically by pairing 钅 with a phonetic - a clean nineteenth-century invention slot.

phonetic

乌 wū

crow; black

乌 supplies the sound exactly - same initial, rime, tone. The same phonetic also drives 呜 (whimper), 邬 (surname), 坞 (dock). The crow-black imagery is faintly apt: tungsten ore (wolframite) is a heavy near-black mineral, and tungsten filaments glow only after fierce heating.