barbarian, foreign
胡 centers on the idea of foreignness, especially from a historical Chinese perspective referring to northern or western non-Han peoples. The meaning 'barbarian' is a pejorative extension of that same concept of being outside one's own culture.
胡 originally referred to a specific ancient nomadic people or region north/west of China. The character combines 古 (old) and 月 (flesh/meat), but the exact historical rationale for this composition is uncertain; it may have been used phonetically to represent the foreign name.
Imagine an ancient Chinese border guard seeing a foreigner with old-fashioned (古) clothes and a piece of raw meat (月) hanging from his belt, marking him as a barbarian from outside the civilized world.
For ウ, picture a barbarian shouting 'Ooh!' (ウ) in surprise when he sees something unfamiliar in a foreign land. The 'Ooh!' sound cues the reading ウ.
erhu (2-stringed Chinese instrument played with a bow); erh hu
walnut (Juglans spp., esp. Juglans regia)
sesame seeds
cucumber (Cucumis sativus)
pepper
suspicious-looking; shady; questionable; dubious; fishy
butterfly
barbarian tribes surrounding ancient China
sitting cross-legged
suspicious
sitting cross-legged
Siebold's arrowwood (Viburnum sieboldii)
wild sesame (Perilla frutescens var. frutescens); oilseed perilla; egoma
dish dressed with sesame sauce
artists' chalk; white pigment; powdered calcium carbonate
Bupleurum stenophyllum (species of medicinal herb)
Wu Hu (five tribes that migrated into China in 300-500 CE: Xiongnu, Jie, Xianbei, Di, Qiang)
Sixteen Kingdoms (collection of sovereign states in and around China; 304-439 CE); Sixteen Kingdoms period
jinghu (2-stringed Chinese instrument played with a bow)
common walnut (Juglans regia); Persian walnut; English walnut