吾 (wú) — (in classical Chinese) I; my; (in classical Chinese) we; our

Definition

Classical Chinese first-person pronoun ('I / my / we / our'), used in literary or archaic writing — not in modern spoken Chinese.

pronoun
(in classical Chinese) Imy(in classical Chinese) weour
Easily confused

Examples

  • 吾。
    Cǐ nǎi wú zhī jiàn jiě.
    This is my understanding.
  • 吾。
    wú Yǐ wéi cǐ fǎ kě xíng.
    I think this method is feasible.
  • 。
    wú Bèi dāng gòng tóng nǔ lì.
    We (our generation) should work together.

Origin

Sound + meaning
六书liùshū
形声xíngshēng

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
口口kǒumouth
Sound part声符shēngfú
五
五wǔ吾wú
Same sound today

吾 is built from 口, a mouth, and 五, which gives its sound.

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