鼯

wú

noun

Meanings

1 flying squirrel

Characters

鼯

wú

flying squirrel

Examples

HSK 7-9

鼯鼠能在树木间滑翔，但不能真正飞行。

Wúshǔ néng zài shùmù jiān huáxiáng, dàn bùnéng zhēnzhèng fēixíng.

Flying squirrels can glide between trees but cannot truly fly.

HSK 7-9

鼯鼠的干燥粪便名五灵脂，中药用于活血化瘀。

Wúshǔ de gānzào fènbiàn míng wǔlíngzhī, zhōngyào yòngyú huóxuè huàyū.

The dried droppings of the flying squirrel, called wulingzhi, are used in traditional medicine to dispel stasis.

Tips

usage

wú appears chiefly in 鼯鼠 (flying squirrel - family Pteromyini), nocturnal squirrels with a patagium (skin flap) between fore and hind limbs that lets them glide between trees. The classical chengyu 鼯鼠之技 ('flying-squirrel's skills', from 《荀子》) describes someone with five mediocre skills and no real mastery: the flying squirrel can climb, swim, dig, run, and glide - but does none of them well. A polite put-down still used in formal writing.

culture

五灵脂 - the dried droppings of the flying squirrel - is a famous ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine, valued for treating blood stasis. It is paired with 蒲黄 in the classical formula 失笑散 (Sudden-Smile Powder, Song dynasty), so named because the medicine was said to relieve pain so suddenly that patients laughed in surprise.

Components

radical

鼠 shǔ

rat; rodent

Left rat radical (Kangxi #208). The semantic anchor: flying squirrels are rodents, classified here with other small mammals named under this radical.

phonetic

吾 wú

I; my (literary); supplying the sound

Right phonetic 吾 - exact sound match. The same phonetic anchors 梧 (parasol tree, as in 梧桐), 悟 (realise), 晤 (meet).

Stroke Order

鼯 wú

鼯