伍

See also: 五

伍 U+4F0D, 伍 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-4F0D ← 伌 [U+4F0C] CJK Unified Ideographs 伎 → [U+4F0E]

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

伍 (Kangxi radical 9, 人+4, 6 strokes, cangjie input 人一木一 (OMDM), four-corner 2121₇, composition ⿰亻五)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 95, character 20
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 435
• Dae Jaweon: page 202, character 4
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 118, character 1
• Unihan data for U+4F0D

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 伍
Small seal script s05781 Transcribed ancient scripts L34452 L14830 L14831
References: Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation), which in turn draws data from various collections of ancient forms of Chinese characters, including: Shuowen Jiezi (small seal), Jinwen Bian (bronze inscriptions), Liushutong (Liushutong characters) and Yinxu Jiaguwen Bian (oracle bone script).

Characters in the same phonetic series (五) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
吾	*ŋraː, *ŋaː
衙	*ŋraː, *ŋa, *ŋaʔ
鼯	*ŋaː
浯	*ŋaː
珸	*ŋaː
郚	*ŋaː
齬	*ŋaː, *ŋa, *ŋaʔ
鯃	*ŋaː
娪	*ŋaː
梧	*ŋaː
峿	*ŋaː
五	*ŋaːʔ
伍	*ŋaːʔ
寤	*ŋaːs
啎	*ŋaːs
晤	*ŋaːs
悟	*ŋaːs
逜	*ŋaːs
窹	*ŋaːs
捂	*ŋaːs
鋙	*ŋa, *ŋaʔ
語	*ŋaʔ, *ŋas
圄	*ŋaʔ
敔	*ŋaʔ

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *ŋaːʔ): semantic 亻 + phonetic 五 (OC *ŋaːʔ). Also ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意).

Etymology 1

simp. and trad.		伍

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): wǔ (wu³)

  (Zhuyin): ㄨˇ

• Cantonese

  (Guangzhou–Hong Kong, Jyutping): ng⁵

  (Taishan, Wiktionary): m² / m⁴

• Hakka

  (Sixian, PFS): ńg

  (Hailu, HRS): ng^ˊ

  (Meixian, Guangdong): n³

  (Changting, Changting Pinyin): ng³

• Eastern Min (BUC): ngū
• Puxian Min (Pouseng Ping'ing): gou³ / ngou⁵
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): gó͘ / ngó͘ / gǒ͘ / gō͘

  (Teochew, Peng'im): ngou² / ngou⁶

• Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ⁵u; ⁶wu; ⁶ng

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: wǔ
    • Zhuyin: ㄨˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: wǔ
    • Wade–Giles: wu³
    • Yale: wǔ
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: wuu
    • Palladius: у (u)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /u²¹⁴/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: ng⁵
    • Yale: ńgh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: ng⁵
    • Guangdong Romanization: ng⁵
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ŋ̍¹³/
  • (Taishanese, Taicheng)
    • Wiktionary: m² / m⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /m̩⁵⁵/, /m̩²¹/

Note:

• m2 - "five", surname;
• m4 - troops.

• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: ńg
    • Hakka Romanization System: ng^ˋ
    • Hagfa Pinyim: ng³
    • Sinological IPA: /ŋ̍³¹/
  • (Hailu, incl. Zhudong)
    • Hakka Romanization System: ng^ˊ
    • Sinological IPA: /ŋ²⁴/
  • (Meixian)
    • Guangdong: n³
    • Sinological IPA: /n̩³¹/
  • (Changting)
    • Changting Pinyin: ng³
    • Sinological IPA: /ŋ̍⁴²/
• Eastern Min
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: ngū
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ŋu³³/
• Puxian Min
  • (Putian)
    • Pouseng Ping'ing: gou³
    • Báⁿ-uā-ci̍: gô
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kɔu⁴⁵³/
  • (Xianyou)
    • Pouseng Ping'ing: gou³
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kɔu³³²/
  • (Putian)
    • Pouseng Ping'ing: ngou⁵
    • Báⁿ-uā-ci̍: ngō
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ŋɔu¹¹/
  • (Xianyou)
    • Pouseng Ping'ing: ngou⁵
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ŋɔu²¹/
Note:
• gou3 - literary;
• ngou5 - vernacular.
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: gó͘
    • Tâi-lô: góo
    • Phofsit Daibuun: gor
    • Sinological IPA (Quanzhou): /ɡɔ⁵⁵⁴/
  • (Hokkien: General Taiwanese, Xiamen, Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: ngó͘
    • Tâi-lô: ngóo
    • Phofsit Daibuun: ngor
    • Sinological IPA (Taipei, Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /ŋɔ̃⁵³/
    • Sinological IPA (Kaohsiung): /ŋɔ̃⁴¹/
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: gǒ͘
    • Tâi-lô: gǒo
    • Sinological IPA (Quanzhou): /ɡɔ²²/
  • (Hokkien: General Taiwanese, Xiamen, Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: gō͘
    • Tâi-lô: gōo
    • Phofsit Daibuun: go
    • Sinological IPA (Taipei, Kaohsiung): /ɡɔ³³/
    • Sinological IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /ɡɔ²²/
Note:
• ngó͘/gó͘ - literary (incl. surname);
• gō͘/gǒ͘ - vernacular.
• • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: ngou² / ngou⁶
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: ngóu / ngŏu
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ŋou⁵²/, /ŋou³⁵/
Note: ngou6 - “five”.
• Wu
  • (Northern: Shanghai)
    • Wugniu: ⁵u; ⁶wu; ⁶ng
    • MiniDict: u^去; wu^去; ng^去
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ²u; ³hhu; ³hhngg
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /u³⁴/, /ɦu²³/, /ŋ̍²³/
Note:
• 3hhu - literary;
• 3ngg - vernacular;
• 2u - only in 隊伍 “company”..

---

• Middle Chinese: nguX

Rime
Character	伍
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	疑 (31)
Final (韻)	模 (23)
Tone (調)	Rising (X)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	I
Fanqie	疑古切
Baxter	nguX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ŋuoX/
Pan Wuyun	/ŋuoX/
Shao Rongfen	/ŋoX/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ŋɔX/
Li Rong	/ŋoX/
Wang Li	/ŋuX/
Bernhard Karlgren	/ŋuoX/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	wǔ
Expected Cantonese Reflex	ng5

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*C.ŋˤaʔ/

  (Zhengzhang): /*ŋaːʔ/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	伍
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	wǔ
Middle Chinese	‹ nguX ›
Old Chinese	/*C.ŋˁaʔ/
English	group of 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	伍
Reading #	1/1
No.	13148
Phonetic component	五
Rime group	魚
Rime subdivision	0
Corresponding MC rime	五
Old Chinese	/*ŋaːʔ/

Definitions

伍

1. troop of five soldiers
2. (figuratively) military
3. ally; company
4. (financial) alternative form of 五 (“five”)
5. a surname, Wu, Woo, Ng, or Eng

   伍連德／伍连德  ―  Wǔ Liándé  ―  Wu Lien-teh (Malayan Chinese physician and epidemiologist)

   伍家崗區／伍家岗区  ―  Wǔjiāgǎng Qū  ―  Wujiagang District

See also

Chinese numbers
	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	102	103	104	106	108	1012
Normal (小寫 / 小写)	〇, 零, 空	一, 蜀	二, 兩 / 两	三	四	五	六	七	八	九	十	百	千	萬 / 万, 十千 (Malaysia, Singapore)	百萬 / 百万, 桶(Philippines), 面桶 (Philippines)	億 / 亿	兆 (Taiwan) 萬億 / 万亿 (Mainland China)
Financial (大寫 / 大写)	零	壹	貳 / 贰	參 / 叁	肆	伍	陸 / 陆	柒	捌	玖	拾	佰	仟

In Min Nan numbers, the vernacular (白) pronunciation is the more common pronunciation, while the literary (文) reading is used for reading numbers out loud, such as in phone numbers. Please note that this usage is similar to the usage of the variant 幺 for the numeral 一 in Mandarin.

Compounds

• 伍伯
• 伍員乘潮 / 伍员乘潮
• 伍員抉目 / 伍员抉目
• 伍員鞭屍 / 伍员鞭尸
• 伍子胥
• 伍家 (Wǔjiā)
• 伍家崗 / 伍家岗 (Wǔjiāgǎng)
• 伍山 (Wǔshān)
• 伍洛 (Wǔluò)
• 伍相廟 / 伍相庙 (Wǔxiàngmiào)
• 伍茲 / 伍兹 (Wǔzī)
• 伍長 / 伍长
• 入伍 (rùwǔ)
• 卒伍
• 參伍 / 参伍
• 噲伍 / 哙伍
• 士伍
• 恥與為伍 / 耻与为伍 (chǐyǔwéiwǔ)
• 本伍
• 歸伍 / 归伍
• 火伍
• 為伍 / 为伍 (wéiwǔ)
• 燕雀伍
• 砥兵礪伍 / 砥兵砺伍
• 簿伍
• 羞與噲伍 / 羞与哙伍
• 羞與為伍 / 羞与为伍 (xiūyǔwéiwǔ)
• 老行伍
• 與噲為伍 / 与哙为伍
• 落伍 (luòwǔ)
• 行伍 (hángwǔ)
• 行伍出身
• 超伍
• 退伍 (tuìwǔ)
• 部伍
• 鄰伍 / 邻伍
• 配伍 (pèiwǔ)
• 閭伍 / 闾伍
• 隊伍 / 队伍 (duìwǔ)
• 隊伍行列 / 队伍行列
• 黨伍 / 党伍

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (伍):

• → Japanese: 伍(ご) (go)
• → Korean: 오(伍) (o)

Others:

• (Hokkien dialect) Tagalog: Go
• (Mandarin) Tagalog: Wu

Etymology 2

simp. and trad.		伍

From 亻 (denoting one octave higher in Kunqu) + 五 (wǔ).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): wǔ (wu³)

  (Zhuyin): ㄨˇ

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: wǔ
    • Zhuyin: ㄨˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: wǔ
    • Wade–Giles: wu³
    • Yale: wǔ
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: wuu
    • Palladius: у (u)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /u²¹⁴/

Definitions

伍

1. (music) Kunqu gongche notation for the note high la (6̇).

   Synonym: 鿉 (wǔ) (Cantonese opera)

References

• “伍”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• “伍”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2025.
• 周存 [Zhōu, Cún], editor (2023), “伍”, 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, page 722.

Japanese

Kanji

See also:

Category:Japanese terms spelled with 伍

伍

(Jinmeiyō kanji)

1. (financial, dated) five
2. five (mahjong)

Readings

• Go-on: ご (go)
• Kan-on: ご (go)
• Kun: いつつ (itsutsu, 伍つ)
• Nanori: くみ (kumi)、あつむ (atsumu)

Compounds

• 伍(ご)長(ちょう) (gochō)
• 落(らく)伍(ご) (rakugo)
• 伍(ご)する (gosuru)

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
伍
ご Jinmeiyō
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese 伍 (MC nguX).

The numeral sense is a substitute spelling for 五(ご) (go, “five”), likely borrowed from similar usage of written Chinese 伍 (“five”).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) ご [góꜜ] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [ɡo̞]

Noun

伍(ご) • (go) 

1. (financial, archaic) the number five, 5 (used only in legal documents, otherwise 五)
2. a military squad (usu. of five people); a group

Usage notes

Legal uses arose due to the relative ease with which certain number kanji can be fraudulently altered to look like other number kanji. For instance, 三 (san, “three”) could be modified to look like 五 (go, “five”), but it cannot be modified to look like 伍 (go, “five”, in legal contexts).

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
伍
ウー Jinmeiyō
irregular

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɯ̟ː]

Number

伍(ウー) • (ū) 

1. (mahjong) five

See also

• 大字(だいじ) (daiji, “big character”, more-complicated kanji used as phonetic replacements for simpler numeric kanji, in order to prevent fraudulent modification)

v • d • e Japanese numbers
Number	Kanji	Kana	Romaji
0	零	れい、ゼロ	rei, zero
1	一、壱、弌、壹	いち	ichi
2	二、弐、貳、貮	に	ni
3	三、参、參	さん	san
4	四、肆	よん、し	yon, shi
5	五、伍	ご	go
6	六、陸	ろく	roku
7	七、漆	なな、しち	nana, shichi
8	八、捌	はち	hachi
9	九、玖	きゅう、く	kyū, ku
10	十、拾	じゅう	jū
100	百、陌、佰	ひゃく	hyaku
1,000	千、阡、仟	せん	sen
10,000	一万、万、一萬、萬	いちまん、まん	ichiman, man
100,000,000	一億、億	いちおく、おく	ichioku, oku

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 伍 (MC nguX). Recorded as Middle Korean 오〯 (wǒ) (Yale: wo) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

伍

伍 (eumhun 다섯사람 오 (daseotsaram o))

1. hanja form^? of 오 (“five”)

Compounds

• 낙오 (落伍, nago)
• 대오 (隊伍, dae'o)

References

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

Vietnamese

Han character

伍: Hán Nôm readings: ngũ

1. five