無

無 U+7121, 無 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-7121 ← 焠 [U+7120] CJK Unified Ideographs 焢 → [U+7122]

Stroke order (cursive)

無 (Kangxi radical 86, 火+8, 12 strokes, cangjie input 人廿火 (OTF), four-corner 8033₁, composition ⿱⿳𠂉卌一灬)

• 㒇, 嘸, 墲, 嫵, 幠, 㣳, 憮, 撫, 潕, 橅, 㷻, 璑, 膴, 瞴, 䌗, 蟱, 譕, 鄦, 甒, 鷡, 蕪, 廡, 䍢, 䉑

• 无 (Simplified Chinese)

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 673, character 26
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 19113
• Dae Jaweon: page 1081, character 24
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 2211, character 15
• Unihan data for U+7121

Pictogram (象形). A person dancing with ox tails held in both hands to pray for rain.

This character is borrowed for “have no”, and the character 舞 (wǔ) is used for the original sense.

trad.		無
simp.		无
alternative forms		𭴿 橆 𣞤 𣟒 𬻜 𭴿 橆 𣞤 𣟒 𬻜 𬻝 𭴾 𤍍 𣞣 𫡟 𣠮 𡙻 𤀢 𰙄 𰙈 𣑨 𣚨 𠘩 㷻／𭴊

Core Sino–Tibetan. From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ma (“no, not”); cognate with Tibetan མ་ (ma, “not”) and Burmese မ (ma., “not”).

Cognate with:

• 微 (OC *mɯl, “not, no”)
• 毋 (OC *ma, “do not”)
• 勿 (OC *mɯd, “not, don't”)
• 未 (OC *mɯds, “not yet, haven't”)
• 靡 (OC *mralʔ, “not, no”)
• 亡 (OC *maŋ, “not have; to flee, to disappear, to die”)
• 沒 (OC *mɯːd, “to end, to disappear, to drown”)
• 莫 (OC *maːɡ, “none, nobody, nothing; do not; can not”)

Attested profusely in Classical Chinese, this word is the prototypical negation particle in the *m- series of Chinese negatives. In the oracle bone script, however, 無 is not frequently used, and its homophone (or near-homophone) 毋 (OC *ma) is used instead.

See 不 (OC *pɯ, *pɯʔ, *pɯ', “not”) for more on negative particles in Old Chinese.

Perhaps related to 巫 (OC *ma, “shaman, wizard, magician, sorcerer, witch”).

無

1. (literary or Hakka, Min) to not have something; there is not ...

   天空無雲。／天空无云。  ―  Tiānkōng wú yún.  ―  There is no cloud in the sky.

   我無零星錢。 [Hokkien, trad.]
   我无零星钱。 [Hokkien, simp.]

   Góa bô lân-san-chîⁿ [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]

   I don't have any change.

   • 2019, “下一位前度 [NEXT]”, 林夕 (lyrics)‎^[1]performed by 林家謙 [Terence Lam]:

     也許一想起某某是唯一可鍾意　才來害怕無下次其實多麼諷刺 [Literary Cantonese, trad.]
     也许一想起某某是唯一可钟意　才来害怕无下次其实多么讽刺 [Literary Cantonese, simp.]

     jaa⁵ heoi² jat¹ soeng² hei² mau⁵ mau⁵ si⁶ wai⁴ jat¹ ho² zung¹ ji³, coi⁴ loi⁴ hoi⁶ paa³ mou⁴ haa⁶ ci³ kei⁴ sat⁶ do¹ mo¹ fung³ ci³ [Jyutping]

     Maybe once I think of someone as the only one I can love, I would be afraid that there would not be a next time, but it's actually quite ridiculous

2. (literary or Min) Negation particle preceding verbs and adjectives. not

   無可／无可  ―  wúkě  ―  can't

   我無求於你。／我无求于你。  ―  Wǒ wú qiú yú nǐ.  ―  I want nothing from you.

3. (literary or Min) have not

   我無共伊講。 [Hokkien, trad.]
   我无共伊讲。 [Hokkien, simp.]

   Góa bô kā i kóng. [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]

   I didn't tell him.

4. (literary or Hakka, Min) Interrogative particle.

   • 晚來天欲雪，能飲一杯無？ [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     晚来天欲雪，能饮一杯无？ [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 白居易《問劉十九》

     Wǎnlái tiān yù xuě, néng yǐn yī bēi wú? [Pinyin]

     Night comes and the sky seems like it might snow; could you drink a cup?

5. (Hakka, Min) if not; otherwise (placed at the start of a sentence)
6. (Hokkien, Teochew) Particle used after a verb to indicate that a goal has not or cannot been accomplished.

   看無／看无 [Hokkien]  ―  khòaⁿ-bô [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  to not understand (when reading or viewing); to be unable to see

   只個字在字典揣無。 [Teochew, trad.]
   只个字在字典揣无。 [Teochew, simp.]

   zi² gai⁷ ri⁷ do⁶ ri⁷ diêng² cuê⁷ bho⁵. [Peng'im]

   You can't find this word in the dictionary.

7. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) regardless of; no matter whether
8. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) nothing; nil

   從無到有／从无到有  ―  cóng wú dào yǒu  ―  start from nothing, from scratch

9. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) alternative form of 毋 (wú, “do not”)

   • 無有封而不告。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     无有封而不告。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Mencius, c. 4^th century BCE

     Wú yǒu fēng ér bù gào. [Pinyin]

     Do not allocate any demesne without reporting it.

10. without; -less; un-

    無情／无情  ―  wúqíng  ―  heartless

    無理／无理  ―  wúlǐ  ―  unreasonable

    無邊／无边  ―  wúbiān  ―  unlimited

• (interrogative particle) 未 (wèi), 嗎／吗 (ma), 否 (fǒu)

→ Peranakan Indonesian: bo

trad.		無
simp.		无
alternative forms		嘸／呒

無

1. only used in 南無／南无 (nāmó)

For pronunciation and definitions of 無 – see 冇 (“to not have; to not exist; etc.”). (This character is a variant form of 冇).

• “無”, 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.
• “無”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[2], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• 周存 [Zhōu, Cún], editor (2023), “冇”, 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 385.
• 周存 [Zhōu, Cún], editor (2023), “无”, 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 707.

(Fourth grade kyōiku kanji)

1. nothing
2. nothingness
3. none
4. nil
5. not

• Go-on: む (mu, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: ぶ (bu, Jōyō)
• Tō-on: も (mo)
• Kun: ない (nai, 無い, Jōyō)、なみする (namisuru, 無みする)、なみする (namisuru, 無する)

Kanji in this term
無
む Grade: 4
goon

Alternative spelling
无

From Middle Chinese 無 (MC mju). The 呉音 (goon), so likely an earlier borrowing.

• (Tokyo) む [múꜜ] (Atamadaka – [1])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [mɯ̟]

無(む) • (mu) 

1. nothing, nothingness
2. (Buddhism) mu; the null set: neither yes nor no (in response to a koan or other question that mistakenly assumes an affirmative or negative answer).

• → English: mu

無(む) • (mu-) 

1. non-, un-

Kanji in this term
無
ぶ Grade: 4
kan'on

From Middle Chinese 無 (bu). The 漢音 (kan'on), so likely a later borrowing.

無(ぶ) • (bu-) 

1. non-, un-

• 无, 橆

From Middle Chinese 無 (MC mju). Recorded as Middle Korean 무 (mwu) (Yale: mwu) in Sinjeung Yuhap (新增類合 / 신증유합), 1576.

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [mu]
• Phonetic hangul: [무]

無 (eumhun 없을 무 (eopseul mu))

1. hanja form^? of 무 (“nothing”)
2. hanja form^? of 무 (“no; non”)
3. hanja form^? of 무 (“(Buddhism) the null set: neither yes nor no (in response to a koan or a question that mistakenly assumes an affirmative or negative answer)”)

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [3]

無: Hán Việt readings: vô^[1][2][3][4], mô^[2]
無: Nôm readings: vô^[1][2][4][5], mô^[2][6][4]

1. chữ Hán form of vô (“without; -less; un-”)