梧

A phono-semantic compound:

木 (목) — semantic component indicating “tree”

吾 (오) — phonetic component giving the sound "o"

Original sense “a specific type of tree (the parasol tree).”

梧桐 (오동) — parasol tree

梧葉 (오엽) — wutong leaves (literary)

梧庭 (오정) — courtyard with wutong trees

鳳棲梧桐 (봉서오동) — “the phoenix perches on the wutong”

梧風 (오풍) — wind through parasol trees (poetic)

梧 denotes the wutong (parasol) tree, a culturally charged symbol across East Asia. While botanically precise, its greater importance lies in literary imagery, royal virtue, and phoenix symbolism. In practice, it appears almost exclusively in the compound 梧桐, where its full semantic and poetic force is realized.

The character carries strong literary and symbolic weight, especially in classical texts.

In poetry, 梧桐 often evokes:

- autumn

- solitude

- separation

- refined sorrow

Classical citations:

《韓非子》 (Han Feizi)

「鳳凰非梧桐不棲。」

“The phoenix will not perch unless it is a wutong tree.”

「梧桐一葉落，天下盡知秋。」 — attributed to classical poetry tradition

“When a single wutong leaf falls, all under heaven know autumn has come.”