烏 (Kangxi radical 86,火+6, 10 strokes,cangjie input竹口卜火 (HRYF),four-corner2732₇,composition⿱丿⿹⿺㇉⿱コ一灬)

• 嗚(呜),塢(坞),嵨,摀(𰓆),溩,隖(𬮻),㮧(𱣂),熓(𤆡),瑦,䃖(𱳳),螐,䡧,鎢(钨),䖚(𰲟),鰞
• 鄔(邬),歍(𰙋)

• 乌(Simplified Chinese)

• Kangxi Dictionary:page 670, character 1
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 18998
• Dae Jaweon: page 1079, character 2
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 2202, character 3
• Unihan data for U+70CF

Historical forms of the character烏
Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled inHan)
Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script

Pictogram (象形) – a bird. Compare鳥 (“bird”), of similar development. See also the original version of its variant於.

“crow; black; dark”

FromProto-Sino-Tibetan*ka-n(“crow”) (STEDT).Doublet of鴉 (OC*qˤra, “crow; raven”), which retains the earlier vowel in Middle Chinese (*ʔˠa), and鸒 (OC*m-q(r)a-s, “jackdaw”) (ibid.).

Schuessler (2007) considers it to beonomatopoeic, and compares it withProto-Loloish*akᴸ(“crow”).

“Black; dark” is a semantic extension of “crow” – “black as a crow”. Compare黑 (OC*hmlɯːɡ, “black”), which is cognate with墨 (OC*mlɯːɡ, “ink”).

“sun”

TheThree-legged crow was thought to reside in the Sun.

interrogative pronoun

Related to the following interrogative pronouns with similar phonological shapes in Old Chinese (Wang, 1982), with differing suffixes:

• 焉 (OC*qan, *qran, “how; where”)
• 惡 (OC*qaː, “how”)
• 安 (OC*qaːn, “where; how; why”)

烏

1. crow;raven;rook

   • 莫赤匪狐、莫黑匪烏。[Pre-Classical Chinese,trad.]
     莫赤匪狐、莫黑匪乌。[Pre-Classical Chinese,simp.]

     From: TheClassic of Poetry,c. 11^th – 7^th centuriesBCE, translated based onJames Legge's version

     Mò chì fěi hú, mò hēi fěiwū.[Pinyin]

     Nothing red is seen but foxes, nothing black butcrows.

2. (obsolete, metonymic)sun

   兔走烏飛／兔走乌飞  ― tùzǒuwūfēi  ―  time passes quickly (literally, “the rabbit [of the moon] runs and thecrow [of the sun] flies”)

3. (literary or in compounds or Hakka, Min)black;dark

   烏雲／乌云  ― wūyún  ―  dark cloud

   烏油油／乌油油  ― wūyóuyóu  ―  glossy black

   嘴唇發烏／嘴唇发乌  ― zuǐchún fāwū  ―  one's lips turn black

   • 匈奴騎，其西方盡白馬，東方盡青駹馬，北方盡烏驪馬，南方盡騂馬。[Classical Chinese,trad.]
     匈奴骑，其西方尽白马，东方尽青𮪡马，北方尽乌骊马，南方尽骍马。[Classical Chinese,simp.]

     From: TheRecords of the Grand Historian, bySima Qian,c. 91BCE

     Xiōngnú qí, qí xīfāng jìn báimǎ, dōngfāng jìn qīng máng mǎ, běifāng jìnwū lí mǎ, nánfāng jìn xīng mǎ.[Pinyin]

     The mounted troops of theXiongnu on the west all had white horses; on the east, all blue-green horses; on the north, allblack horses; on the south, all red horses.

   • 天烏烏，欲落雨。[Hokkien,trad.]
     天乌乌，欲落雨。[Hokkien,simp.]

     From:天烏烏 (The sky is dark)

     Thiⁿo͘-o͘, beh lo̍h-hō͘.[Pe̍h-ōe-jī]

     The sky isdark; it seems like it will rain.

4. (literary) todyeblack
5. (literary)An interrogative pronoun with a variety of meanings, including "how", "why", "where", etc.

   • 褒城驛號天下第一。及得寓目，視其沼，則淺混而汙；視其舟，則離敗而膠。庭除甚蕪，堂廡甚殘，烏睹其所謂宏麗者？[Literary Chinese,trad.]
     褒城驿号天下第一。及得寓目，视其沼，则浅混而污；视其舟，则离败而胶。庭除甚芜，堂庑甚残，乌睹其所谓宏丽者？[Literary Chinese,simp.]

     From:c. 850,孫樵,《書褒城驛壁》

     Bāochéngyì hào tiānxiàdìyī. Jí dé yùmù, shì qí zhǎo, zé qiǎnhùn ér wū; shì qí zhōu, zé líbài ér jiāo. Tíng chú shèn wú, táng wǔ shèn cán,wū dǔ qí suǒwèi hónglì zhě?[Pinyin]

     The Baocheng Posting Station has been reputed to be the finest under heaven. Yet upon seeing it with my own eyes, I beheld its pond—shallow, turbid, and overgrown with reeds; its boats—broken apart, stranded, and unfit for use. The courtyard steps were untended, while the hall and the surrounding chambers were severely dilapidated.Where could one perceive the grandeur and splendor it is said to possess?

6. asurname
7. Short for:
   1. 烏克蘭／乌克兰 (Wūkèlán, “Ukraine”)

      俄烏戰爭／俄乌战争  ― É-Wū zhànzhēng  ―  Russia–Ukraine War

   2. 烏拉圭／乌拉圭 (Wūlāguī, “Uruguay”)
   3. 烏茲別克斯坦／乌兹别克斯坦 (Wūzībiékèsītǎn, “Uzbekistan”)

• 惡／恶 (è)

• → English:O(Singapore, via Hokkien or Teochew)

• “烏”, in漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[1],香港中文大學 (theChinese University of Hong Kong),2014–
• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A02407
• 周存[Zhōu, Cún], editor (2023), “乌”, in长汀话词典 CHANGTINGHUA CIDIAN [Dictionary of Changting Dialect] (overall work in Hakka and Mandarin), Guangzhou:世界图书出版有限公司[World Book Publishing Co., Ltd.],→ISBN, page705.

(Jinmeiyō kanji)

• Go-on:う(u)
• Kan-on:お(o)^{←を(wo,historical)}
• Kan’yō-on:え(e)
• Kun:からす(karasu,烏)、いずくんぞ(izukunzo,烏んぞ)^{←いづくんぞ(idukunzo,烏んぞ,historical)}、なんぞ(nanzo,烏ぞ)

FromOld Japanese, fromProto-Japonic*karasu.

Compound ofから(kara,“caw”,onomatopoeia, imitative of a crow'scaw) +‎す(su,“bird”,ancient suffix appearing in certain bird names).^[1] Compare theす(su) in鶯(uguisu),杜鵑(hototogisu),モズ(mozu).

• (Tokyo)からす[káꜜràsù] (Atamadaka – [1])^[2][3]
• IPA^(key): [ka̠ɾa̠sɨ]

烏(からす)or烏(カラス)• (karasu) 

1. acrow orraven

   Synonym:慈鳥(jichō)

• 烏(からす)が鵜(う)の真似(まね)(karasu ga u no mane)