(wǔ) - dance in Mandarin
wǔTraditional: 舞
Translation
dance
Word origin
Originally a pictograph of a person holding ox tails or streamers in both hands while dancing, later borrowed for the sound and given the 舛 (chuǎn, two feet apart) element at the foot.
- Origin
- pictograph
- Root
- a dancer holding streamers, with 舛 (chuǎn, stepping feet) below
Stroke order
舞
Examples
。
She has studied dance since she was small.
，。
This dance is hard and I cannot do it well.
，。
As soon as the music started everyone began to dance.
。
The dance is in the school hall.
。
The teacher taught us a new dance.
舞 (wǔ) is dance as a thing rather than an action. It sits inside most of the words you need for the subject: 跳舞 (to dance), 舞台 (stage), 舞会 (a dance or ball), 舞蹈 (dance as an art form).
The verb is 跳舞, literally to jump a dance, and it is a verb-object pair. That matters for word order: anything extra goes in the middle, so it is 跳了一个舞 and 跳中国舞, not 跳舞了一个.
The trap is treating 舞 as a verb on its own. You cannot say 我舞 for I dance; you need 我跳舞. Bare 舞 works as a noun and inside compounds, and that is where you will actually meet it.
Where this fits
Used in
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舞: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "舞" (dance): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.
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Start your free weekThis word is part of lesson 57.