Writing Balance Rule: Keep the left radical narrow and upright, and the right component balanced and slightly taller to maintain structural harmony.
1. Meaning
to fall forward, to fall prostrate
to rush at, to pounceservant, domestic
Verb / NounFormal / LiteraryBound morpheme#movement#action#body position
Sample Usage
前仆后继
qián pū hòu jì
preceding fall, following successors (idiom: wave upon wave, pressing forward regardless of sacrifices)
仆倒
pū dǎo
to fall down prostrate
2. Sound
/[pʰu⁵⁵]/Tone: 55
仆
pūpu1
|
++
¯(55)
=pū
Build the syllable
Step-by-step blending
pu
Tone mark placement: Tone mark sits on "u" per main-vowel priority (a > e > o; in -iu/-ui the mark takes the second vowel).
Initial Consonant
p
Type: Aspirated Bilabial
Sounds like: p sound in English 'pat'
Aspirated
Airflow Tactile Test: Strong puff of air! A tissue held before lips MUST fly forward.
Tongue & Mouth Position: Both lips pressed together, then forcefully parted to release air.
Final Rhyme
u
Vowel Group: -u vowel group
Sounds like: oo sound in English 'boot'
Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'oo'.
Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.
Tone
T1 (55)
5 → 5 (55)
1st Tone (High-Flat)
Tone Pitch & Cadence: Maintains a steady, high pitch identical to a musical note held at the top of your voice.
👂
Listening trap: Often confused with unaspirated 'bū' if the puff of air is not pronounced distinctly enough.
👋
Physical Tone Gesture: A high, flat horizontal line made at the very top of your vocal range, like a drone hovering overhead.
3. Writing
Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 2 strokes
Writing Balance Rule: Keep the left radical narrow and upright, and the right component balanced and slightly taller to maintain structural harmony.
4. Components
Radical亻 · Person Radical (Human, person)
Semantic Clue (形旁):亻 (indicates human action or posture)
Phonetic Clue (声旁):卜 (original sound: bǔ / pū)
A person (亻) dives headfirst toward a divination bone or crack (卜), tumbling face down.
亻 Person
卜 Crack / Divination mark (provides sound and shape clue)
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
9· Phonetic Root: 卜 (bǔ)
5. History
Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)
Origin: Originally depicted a person bending over or falling forward, combining the human classifier with a phonetic marker.
Semantic Evolution: Shifted from a physical tumble or falling forward to also representing servants who bow or fall prostrate before masters.
Often found in classical Chinese literature describing battlefield charges where soldiers fall and others immediately step up.
6. Sinosphere
🇯🇵
Kanji (Japanese)
On: ホク / Kun: たお.れる
Sound Shift Bridge: Mandarin initial 'p-' corresponds to Germanic/English 'f-' or 'b-' in some distant Indo-European roots, but is treated here purely as a Mandarin phonetic item.
7. Memory
Vivid Mnemonic Story
A person (亻) dives headfirst toward a glowing crystal ball (卜) and tumbles, falling flat on his face.
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
卜
bǔdivinePhonetic Core (声旁)
补
bǔto repair, mend, or supplement+ 衤 (clothes)
扑
pūto pounce on, to flap, to throw oneself at+ 扌 (hand)