武

武 U+6B66, 武 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-6B66 ← 步 [U+6B65] CJK Unified Ideographs 歧 → [U+6B67]

Stroke order

武 (Kangxi radical 77, 止+4, 8 strokes, cangjie input 一心卜中一 (MPYLM), four-corner 1314₀, composition ⿹⿽弋一止 or ⿻一⿹弋止 or ⿻㱐㇂)

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

simp. and trad.		武

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 戈 (“blade”) + 止 (“foot; to walk; to stop”) – army going on an expedition. In the character 武, the 戈 component is written above the 止 component.

The graphical origin of 武 as “to stop violence” — the ultimate state of just warfare — is traditionally attributed to King Zhuang of Chu [597 BCE]:

Linguistically, this was likely a misinterpretation, as 止 always means “to walk” (趾) when used as a radical, compare 步 (bù), 歷／历 (lì) and 歧 (qí).

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *d-mak (“war, army, soldier”). Cognate with Tibetan དམག (dmag, “army”), Burmese မက် (mak) (as in ရဲမက် (rai:mak, “soldier”) (STEDT; Schuessler, 2007; Sagart, 2017d).

武

1. military (related to warfare, fighting)

   動武／动武  ―  dòngwǔ  ―  to use force (to fight, start a war, etc.)

2. martial arts; wushu

   武術／武术  ―  wǔshù  ―  martial arts

   比武  ―  bǐwǔ  ―  to compete in a martial arts contest

3. valiant; brave; courageous

   勇武  ―  yǒngwǔ  ―  valiant; courageous

4. soldier; warrior

   玄武  ―  Xuánwǔ  ―  Black Turtle (lit. "Black Warrior") (one of the Four Symbols among the constellations in Chinese astronomy)

   • 夫死生同域，不可脅陵，勇武一人，為三軍雄。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     夫死生同域，不可胁陵，勇武一人，为三军雄。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Huainanzi, 2^nd century BCE

     Fú sǐshēng tóng yù, bùkě xiélíng, yǒngwǔ yīrén, wéi sānjūn xióng. [Pinyin]

     One for whom death and life are the same territory, who cannot be threatened, such a single brave warrior is the hero of the Three Armies.

5. footstep; footprint
6. Classifier for half steps.
7. (obsolete) to inherit
8. a surname

   武則天／武则天  ―  Wǔ Zétiān  ―  Wu Zetian (the only legitimate female sovereign in the history of China)

(Fifth grade kyōiku kanji)

• Go-on: む (mu, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: ぶ (bu, Jōyō)
• Kun: たけ (take)、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)

Kanji in this term
武
む Grade: 5
on'yomi

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

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

• IPA^(key): [mɯ̟]

武(む) • (mu) 

1. military, martial

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

Kanji in this term
武
ぶ Grade: 5
on'yomi

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.

• (Tokyo) ぶ [búꜜ] (Atamadaka – [1])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [bɯ̟]

武(ぶ) • (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(たけし) • (Takeshi) 

1. a male given name

武(たける) • (Takeru) 

1. a male given name

• Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN

武 (eumhun 굳셀 무 (gutsel mu))

1. hanja form^? of 무 (“military nobility; soldier, warrior; weaponry, weapons”)
2. hanja form^? of 무 (“courage, honor”)
3. hanja form^? of 무 (“martial arts, wushu; to demonstrate military force: strategy, tactics, martial arts”)

• 무력 (武力, muryeok, “military force, armed might”)
• 무기 (武器, mugi, “weapon”)

武: Hán Nôm readings: vũ, võ

1. martial arts
2. (compounds) violence
3. chữ Hán form of Võ (“a surname”).

   武元甲 ― Võ Nguyên Giáp

4. chữ Hán form of Vũ (“a surname”).

   武重鳳 ― Vũ Trọng Phụng