五

See also: 伍

Translingual

Stroke order

Stroke order

Etymology

One possibility is that 五 was originally written as five horizontal lines, similar to 一, 二, 三, and the obsolete 亖 (four), but in common writing the lines would blend together. Thus, two lines were turned vertical and the right one was shortened, to form one stroke with the middle horizontal line. An alternate hypothesis is that 五 originally resembled an X with a bar on top and a bar on bottom, as in 𠄡. This would have meant five because when counting on a single hand, one first counts to five and then crosses back the other way to ten.

Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Large seal script	Small seal script

Han character

五 (radical 7 二+2, 4 strokes, cangjie input 一木一 (MDM), four-corner 1010₇)

References

• KangXi: page 86, character 11
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 257
• Dae Jaweon: page 178, character 4
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 11, character 3
• Unihan data for U+4E94

See also

• (Chinese written numbers): 零 or 〇， 一， 二， 三， 四， 五， 六， 七， 八， 九， 十， 百， 千， 萬／万， 億／亿
• (Chinese financial form): 伍

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Chinese

		-
simp. and trad.		五

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *l/b-ŋa (“five”).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): wǔ (wu³)

  (Zhuyin): ㄨˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): ng⁵
• Hakka (Pha̍k-fa-sṳ): ńg
• Min Nan (POJ): gō / ngó͘
• Wu (WT Romanisation): hhngg (T3); u (T2)

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: wǔ
    • Zhuyin: ㄨˇ
    • Wade-Giles: wu³
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: wuu
    • IPA ^(key): /u²¹⁴/

    • (file)

• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: ng⁵
    • Yale: ńgh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: ng⁵
    • IPA ^(key): /ŋ̍¹³/
• Hakka
  • Romanisations:
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: ńg
    • IPA (Siyen, including Miaoli): /ŋ̍⁵⁵/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: gō / ngó͘
    • Tâi-lô: gō / ngó͘
    • IPA (Taipei): /gə³³/, /ŋɔ⁴¹/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /gə²²/, /ŋɔ⁵³/
• Wu
  • (Shanghainese)
    • WT Romanisation: hhngg (T3); u (T2)
    • IPA ^(key): /ɦŋ̍²³/, /ɯ³⁴/

Middle Chinese pronunciation (五, reconstructed)
Character (五), Pronunciation 1/1
Initial: 疑 (31) Final: 模 Division: I			Openness: Open Tone: Rising (X)			Fanqie: 疑古切
Zhengzhang Shangfang	Bernard Karlgren	Li Rong	Pan Wuyun	Edwin Pulleyblank	Wang Li	Shao Rongfen
/ŋuoX/	/ŋuoX/	/ŋoX/	/ŋuoX/	/ŋɔX/	/ŋuX/	/ŋoX/

Old Chinese pronunciation (五, reconstructed)
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character								Modern Beijing (Pinyin)								Middle Chinese								Old Chinese								English
五								wǔ								‹ nguX ›								/*C.ŋˤaʔ/								five
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter-Sagart system: Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character					No.					Phonetic component					Rime group					Rime subdivision					Corresponding MC rime					Old Chinese					Notes
五					13147					五					魚					0					五					/*ŋaːʔ/

Numeral

五

1. five

See also

• (Chinese written numbers): 零 or 〇， 一， 二， 三， 四， 五， 六， 七， 八， 九， 十， 百， 千， 萬／万， 億／亿

Proper noun

五

1. A surname​. Wu (mainland China, Taiwan), Ng (Hong Kong)

Compounds

• 五味子

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Japanese

Kanji

五

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. five, 5

Readings

• Goon: ご (go)
• Kan’on: ご (go)
• Kun: いつ (itsu), いつつ (五つ, itsutsu)
• Nanori: い (i), さ (sa), さつ (satsu), ち (chi), ふ (fu), み (mi), め (me)

Compounds

• 五節句 (ごせっく, gosekku): the five seasonal festivals of the Japanese calendar
• 五悪 (goaku): (Buddhism) the Five Evils
• 五位鷺 (goisagi): night heron
• 五十歩百歩 (gojippohyappo):
• 五音音階, 五音々階 (goon'onkai): pentatonic scale
• 五戒 (gokai): (Buddhism) the Five Precepts
• 五角形 (gokakkei): pentagon
• 五官 (gokan):the five sense organs
• 五感 (gokan): the five senses
• 五経 (gokyō): (Confucianism) Four Books and Five Classics
• 五桁 (goketa):
• 五月 (gogatsu): May
• 五言絶句 (gogonzekku):
• 五言律詩 (gogonrisshi):
• 五更 (gokou):
• 五行 (gogyō): Wu Xing
• 五穀 (gokoku):
• 五彩 (gosai):
• 五指 (goshi): five fingers
• 五種競技 (goshukyouki): pentathalon
• 五重
• 五旬節 (gojunsetsu):
• 五書 (gosho):
• 五女 (gojo):
• 五常 (gojou): the five Confucian virtues
• 五情 (gojou): the Five Passions

• 五色
• 五人組 (goningumi): Five Households (Edo era civil defence units)
• 五人囃子 (goninbayashi):
• 五寸釘 (gosunkugi):
• 五節 (gosetsu):
• 五線 (gosen):
• 五臓 (gozou):
• 五体 (gotai):
• 五段 (godan):
• 五男 (gonan):
• 五斗米 (gotobei):
• 五徳 (gotoku):
• 五倍子 (gobaishi):
• 五風十雨 (gofuujuuu):
• 五分
• 五辺形 (gohengei):
• 五面体 (gomentai): a pentahedron
• 五目 (gomoku): mixture
• 五里霧中 (gorimuchuu): groping in the dark
• 五稜郭 (goryoukaku): Goryōkaku star-shaped fort in Hakodate
• 五稜堡 (goryouho):
• 五倫 (gorin): Gorin, the five Confucian virtues
• 五輪 (gorin): The Olympics
• 五芒 (gobou): pentagram
• 弦楽五重奏 (げんがくごじゅうそう): string quintet

References

JIS: 385E Kuten: 2462 Shift JIS: 8CDC EUC-JP: B8DE Frequency: 31 Nelson: 15

New Nelson: 77 Halpern: 3436 Halpern Learners: 2142 Heisig: 5 Tuttle Kanji Dictionary: 0a4.27

1. Source: EDICT and KANJIDIC files licensed by the Electronic Dictionaries Research Group.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Number

Japanese cardinal numbers

4	5	6
Cardinal : 五

五 (ご, go)

1. five, 5

Noun

五 (hiragana ご, romaji go)

1. five
2. a name of a hole of a wind instrument

Noun

五 (hiragana いつ, romaji itsu)

1. five

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Korean

Hanja

五 (o)
Eumhun:

• Sound (hangeul): 오 (revised: o, McCune-Reischauer: o, Yale: o)

• Name (hangeul): 다섯 (revised: daseot, McCune-Reischauer: tasŏt, Yale: tases)

1. This entry needs a definition. Please add one, then remove {{defn}}.

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Mulam

Numeral

五 (kwən1)

1. five

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Vietnamese

Han character

五 (ngũ)

1. This entry needs a definition. Please add one, then remove {{defn}}.