wu

Wu is a romanization used for several Chinese terms and names. In modern contexts it often refers to a surname, a historical state, a language group, or a morpheme meaning martial. The precise meaning depends on the Chinese characters and historical period.

Wu is a common Chinese surname written 吴 in simplified form or 吳 in traditional form. In Mandarin pinyin it is Wu; in Cantonese it is Ng; in other dialects it may have different spellings. It is one of the most widely distributed surnames in China.

Historically, Wu (吴/吳) was the name of an ancient state in the Yangtze delta during the Spring and Autumn period, in what is now parts of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. In the Three Kingdoms era, Eastern Wu (吳) was one of the three rival states, with its capital at Jianye (modern Nanjing).

Wu refers to Wu Chinese, a major group of Chinese languages spoken in Shanghai, Zhejiang, and parts of southern Jiangsu. Notable Wu dialects include the Shanghainese and Suzhou dialects, which exhibit distinct pronunciation, vocabulary, and tones compared with Mandarin.

The morpheme 武 (wu) means martial or military and occurs in words such as wushu (Chinese martial arts) and wujiang. The term Wu also appears in popular culture and place names, such as Wuxi, a city in Jiangsu named after the historic Wu region, or the Wu-Tang Clan, a hip-hop group.