According to oracle bone script of ancient Chinese, the word "Wu" is a man dancing with a torch. Also in bronze inscriptions of ancient Chinese, "Wu" for nothingness is the same as "Wu"  for dance. 

This shows the great insight of the ancient Chinese sages into the reality of nothingness: The dance in nothingess, being equivalent to the virtual fluctuations in the vacuum field as described in quantum field theory of modern physics.

In Chinese, "Wu" can be used either as a noun, verb or adverb:
1) As a noun, it means the state of nothingness (NB. there is a slight difference between nothingness and emptiness as the latter still implies the existence of a boundary though there is nothing inside);
2) As a verb, it can mean either not being (i.e. is not), don't or not have;
3) As an adverb, it means not, non- or without.