妇 (fù) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

妇

fù[fu4]Tone 4

woman

HSK 4

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婦

Multiple Readings (多音字):

Guru Deep Dive

English · woman

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:3

Writing Balance Rule: The left component (woman radical) occupies about one-third to half of the horizontal space, leaving the right component (hand/broom) balanced on the right side without crowding.

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 婦 contains a complex right-side component (帚 broom), which was simplified in modern standard Chinese to simplify the stroke layout.

1. Meaning

woman, wife

married womanfemale adult

NounNeutral / LiteraryBound morpheme#people#family#gender

Sample Usage

妇女
fùnǚ
women
夫妇
fūfù
man and wife, married couple

2. Sound

/[fu⁵¹]/Tone: 51

妇

fùfu4

`(51)

=fù

Initial Consonant

Type: Labiodental Fricative

Sounds like: f sound as in 'fish'

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Continuous smooth friction.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Upper teeth rest gently against the lower lip while air is continuously blown out.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -u vowel group

Sounds like: -oo sound as in 'boot'

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'oo'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T4 (51)

5 → 1 (51)

4th Tone (High-Falling)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 4 starts high and plunges sharply down to the bottom of your vocal range, identical to an authoritative English command like 'No!' or 'Stop!'

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the Tone 4 falling pitch (51) with Tone 1 or Tone 2, leading native speakers to hear a completely different word.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A decisive downward chop or a quick nod of the head, representing the high-to-low dropping pitch of Tone 4.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 3 strokes

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 婦 contains a complex right-side component (帚 broom), which was simplified in modern standard Chinese to simplify the stroke layout.

4. Components

Radical 女 · Woman Radical (Female, woman)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 女 (Indicates female gender or status)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 帚 (original sound: zhǒu (provides phonetic and conceptual hint of household duties))

A woman (女) holding a broom or performing duties, signifying a traditional wife managing the household.

女 Woman / female
又 Hand (part of the historical broom component)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally depicted a woman kneeling, holding a broom to clean, representing a married woman keeping house in ancient times.

Semantic Evolution: Expanded from a specific reference to a married woman holding a broom to general terms for women, wives, and female citizens.

In ancient China, the character emphasized domestic roles and household labor.
Modern Chinese preserves it heavily in compound words like 妇女 (women) and 夫妇 (married couple).

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: フ / Kun: よめ

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

부

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

A WOMAN (女) holding a broom in her hand sweeps the floor to keep the house neat.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

扫

sǎoto sweepUses hand radical instead of woman radical.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

付(fù)

付 means 'to pay or hand over' and uses the person/standing radical (亻), whereas 妇 uses the woman radical (女).

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

国际[___]节是在每年的三月八日。

Clue: fù nǚ

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the left-hand radical '女' with other similar radicals or misplacing the proportion of the left and right components.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see 妇, what tone and primary English meaning come to mind?

Production: How do you write the character for 'woman/wife' (fù) using the woman radical?

妇fùwoman

Speed:

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