武

武 (radical 77, 止+4, 8 strokes, cangjie input 一心卜中一 (MPYLM), four-corner 1314₀, composition ⿻一⿹弋止)

• 倵, 𫪗, 𪣥, 娬, 𢯞, 陚, 斌, 𭨹, 𣓸, 𭮗, 𪸵, 珷, 𬑘, 𮀃, 碔, 𫀐, 賦(赋), 䟼, 錻, 𬷜, 𤭎, 𭭫, 虣, 𢎔, 鵡(鹉), 𫈓, 𮦔, 䝾, 𫛁

• む (Hiragana character derived from Man'yōgana)

• KangXi: page 575, character 9
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 16273
• Dae Jaweon: page 965, character 8
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 2, page 1439, character 5
• Unihan data for U+6B66

Historical forms of the character 武
Shang	Western Zhou	Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Chu Slip and silk script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Ideogrammic compound (會意) : 止 (“foot; to walk; to stop”) + 戈 (“spear”) – army going on expedition.

The graphical origin of 武 is described in the Spring and Autumn Annals [481 BC] as “to stop violence” (止戈為武) – the ultimate state of warfare. This may be a misinterpretation as 止 is frequently used to mean “to walk” (趾), not “to stop”.

武

1. military; forces
2. military (related to warfare, fighting)
3. martial arts; wushu
4. valiant; brave; courageous
5. soldier; warrior
6. footstep; footprint
7. Classifier for half steps.
8. to inherit
9. A surname​.

(grade 5 “Kyōiku” kanji)

• Go-on: む (mu, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: ぶ (bu, Jōyō)
• Kun: たけし (takeshi, 武し)
• Nanori: う (u); お (o); たけし (takeshi); たける (takeru); たけん (taken); ん (n)

From Middle Chinese 武 (mju^X, “military”).

The goon reading of mu, so likely the initial borrowing.

• On’yomi: Kan’on
  • IPA^(key): [mɯ̟ᵝ]

武 (hiragana む, rōmaji mu)

1. military, martial

Only found in compounds. Not as common as the bu reading.

From Middle Chinese 武 (mju^X, “military”).

The kan'on reading of bu, so likely a re-borrowing at a later stage of Middle Chinese, or from a dialectal variation in Middle Chinese.

• On’yomi: Kan’on
  • (Tokyo) ぶ​ [búꜜ] (Atamadaka – [1])[1]
  • IPA^(key): [bɯ̟ᵝ]

武 (hiragana ぶ, rōmaji bu)

1. courage, ferocity, valor
2. military power, force of arms
3. the act of carrying out military force: a battle, a war
4. the way of carrying out military force: strategy, tactics, martial arts
5. a military person: an officer, a soldier
6. (obsolete) a unit of length, equivalent to half of a 歩 (bu, six 尺 (shaku), roughly six feet or 1.8 meters), roughly equivalent to one yard or 90 centimeters

Ateji used in various names.

武 (hiragana たけし, rōmaji Takeshi)

1. A male given name

武 (hiragana たける, rōmaji Takeru)

1. A male given name

• 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan

武 • (mu) (hangeul 무, revised mu, McCune–Reischauer mu, Yale mu)

1. military nobility
2. soldier, warrior
3. courage, honor
4. weaponry, weapons
5. martial arts, wushu
6. to demonstrate military force: strategy, tactics, martial arts

武 (vũ, võ)

1. A surname.