五
wǔ · HSK 1
five
✋ 五 = five; one open hand has five fingers
The character 五 means five. A handy memory hook: an open hand shows exactly five fingers. The pinyin wǔ rhymes with woo, said with a dipping third tone.
五 — two horizontal lines + crossed strokes
五 originally depicted two parallel lines (heaven and earth) with an X between them, representing the interaction of the five elements. Over time it became the standard numeral for 'five.' The ancient form 㐅 (just the X) was later framed by the two lines to distinguish it clearly as a number.