ZHIZHI 知止 · LEARN CHINESE DAILY
无
without; none; -less
wú
4 strokes · 无 — a dancer with sleeves — borrowed for 'nothing' · HSK 2
无 in traditional Chinese
無
What 无 is made of
一 + 尢 = 无
尢lame leg
Where 无 comes from
Originally a dancer with long sleeves (the ancestor of 舞 dance). The sound was borrowed for 'not have', and the dancer vanished into abstraction: emptiness wearing a dancer's costume.
无 in Chinese culture
无 is the formal 没有: 无线 wireless, 无聊 bored ('without interest'), 无法 unable. Daoism made it philosophy — 无为 wu wei, effortless action. Your Wi-Fi's 无线网络 carries a Daoist prefix.
Example
无聊 wúliáo — bored; boring
今天真无聊。
Jīntiān zhēn wúliáo.
Today is really boring.
How to remember it
The dancer danced away — NOTHING left, WITHOUT.
无 is the '-less' of Chinese: 无线 wire-less, 无糖 sugar-free, 无人机 'no-person machine' — a drone.
Same sound, different tones
Words unlocked by 无
无聊 wúliáo
bored
无线 wúxiàn
wireless
Related characters
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