怒 (nù) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

怒

nù[nu4]Tone 4

anger

HSK 6

Guru Deep Dive

English · anger

Cached lesson

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Topology:Top-bottom

Strokes:9

Writing Balance Rule: The top component (奴) should be slightly compressed to make room for the powerful heart radical (心) spreading out at the bottom.

1. Meaning

anger

furyflourishingvigorous

Noun / VerbNeutral#emotions#psychology#human state

Sample Usage

他气得怒火中烧。
tā qì de nù huǒ zhōng shāo.
He was burning with anger.
春风怒号。
chūn fēng nù háo.
The spring wind howls violently.

2. Sound

/[nu˥˩]/Tone: 51

怒

nùnu4

`(51)

=nù

Initial Consonant

Type: Alveolar Nasal

Sounds like: n sound as in 'no'

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Air passes completely through nose.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tip of the tongue touches the alveolar ridge behind the upper front teeth.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -u vowel group

Sounds like: oo sound as in 'boot'

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'oo'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T4 (51)

5 → 1 (51)

4th Tone (High-Falling)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 4 starts high and plunges sharply to the bottom, similar to a stern, commanding exclamation in English like 'Stop!' or 'Down!'.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the Tone 4 drop (nu4) with a rising tone (nu2), turning anger into a question.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A sharp, decisive chop downward with your hand, mirroring an abrupt drop from high to low pitch.

3. Writing

Topology: Top-bottom · Strokes: 9 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The top component (奴) should be slightly compressed to make room for the powerful heart radical (心) spreading out at the bottom.

4. Components

Radical 心 · Heart radical (heart, emotions, mind)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 心 (Indicates that the character relates to emotions or feelings (the heart))

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 奴 (original sound: nu)

A slave (奴) whose heart (心) boils over with boiling fury and resentment.

奴 Slave (provides the phonetic sound 'nu')
心 Heart (provides the semantic meaning of emotion/anger)

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

9· Phonetic Root: 奴 (nú)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from 奴 (slave) representing sound and meaning of subordination/oppression, and 心 (heart), depicting the internal pressure and resentment turning into anger.

Semantic Evolution: Originally meant inner resentment and wrath, which broadened to general fury, and later by extension to describe vigorous, intense, or flourishing states (like roaring winds or blooming flowers).

In classical texts, '怒' often described natural forces acting with fury, such as stormy seas or roaring gales.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: ド (do) / Kun: いかり (ikari)

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

노

Sound Shift Bridge: The initial 'n' and final vowel 'u' parallel cognate-like emotional concepts across language families.

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Picture an oppressed servant or slave (奴) whose heart (心) reaches its breaking point, exploding into a fiery rage (怒).

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

奴

núslaveWithout the heart component at the bottom, it means slave.

驽

núexhausted horseReplaces the heart with a horse (马), meaning a tired, sluggish horse.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

恕(shù)

Has 'like/same' (如) over heart (心), meaning forgiveness, whereas '怒' has slave (奴) over heart, meaning anger.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

听到这个消息，他顿时火冒三[___]。

Clue: nù

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the top element 奴 with other components like 女 (woman), leading to incorrect handwriting proportions.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see '怒', what emotion does it represent and how is it pronounced with tone?

Production: How do you write the character for 'anger' (nù) using the slave and heart components?

怒nùanger

Speed:

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