Example sentences
xiàn现zài在wǔ五diǎn点。
It's five o'clock.
wǔ五yuè月hěn很shū舒fú服。
May is comfortable.
The story behind the character
五
The earliest 五 is a crossed X. It meant to cross, to intertwine. Xu Shen wrote 五, 五行也. Only later was it borrowed for the number five. So 五 started as "crossing," not "five."
Related words
Practise the numbers with audio →Every number from 1 to 100, each digit tap-to-hear, plus the tone changes that trip people up.