抚 (fǔ) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

抚

fǔ[fu3]Tone 3

to comfort

HSK 7

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撫

Guru Deep Dive

English · to comfort

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:7

Writing Balance Rule: Keep the left radical (hand) slender and compact, allowing the right phonetic component more room to expand gracefully.

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 撫 was simplified in Mainland China to 抚 by replacing the complex right component with 无 (wú).

1. Meaning

to comfort, console, stroke, or caress

to foster or cherishhistorical term for a province or provincial governor

VerbLiteraryBound morpheme#emotion#touch#governance

Sample Usage

安抚
ān fǔ
to pacify and comfort
抚摸
fǔ mō
to stroke, to caress

2. Sound

/[fu²¹⁴]/Tone: 214

抚

fǔfu3

ˇ(214)

=fǔ

Build the syllable

Step-by-step blending

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

Type: Labiodental Fricative

Sounds like: f sound in English 'four'

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Continuous smooth friction.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Upper teeth gently touch the lower lip to create a continuous friction airflow.

Final Rhyme

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

T3 (214)

2 → 1 → 4 (214)

3rd Tone (Low-Dipping)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 3 dips down like a disappointed sigh and rises back up like an inquisitive question.

Sandhi: When followed by another 3rd tone, fǔ shifts to a 2nd tone (rising 35).

👂

Listening trap: Do not confuse the 3rd tone dipping contour with a flat 1st tone or sharp 4th tone; ensure the voice drops low before rising.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Trace a checkmark in the air: dip down from your chest and sweep sharply up.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 7 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: Keep the left radical (hand) slender and compact, allowing the right phonetic component more room to expand gracefully.

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 撫 was simplified in Mainland China to 抚 by replacing the complex right component with 无 (wú).

4. Components

Radical 扌 · Hand radical (Hand, manual action)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 扌 (Indicates physical action done with the hand (stroking, touching))

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 无 (original sound: fǔ / wú phonetic hint)

A hand (扌) reaches out to touch nothingness or emptiness into peace (无), representing comforting someone who is distressed.

扌 Hand action
无 Phonetic clue

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

7· Phonetic Root: 无 (mó)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from the hand radical (扌) showing physical action and an ancient phonetic element (无), originally depicting the gentle touch of a hand to soothe.

Semantic Evolution: Shifted from physical touching and stroking to emotional comforting, and later extended to political governing and pacifying regions.

In imperial China, governors were often referred to by titles incorporating this character to denote their duty to pacify the populace.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: フ / Kun: なで.る

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

부

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Your hand (扌) reaches out with nothing (无) but pure comfort to stroke and caress a crying friend.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

无

mónothing / have not / used in Sanskrit transliteration (mó)Phonetic Core (声旁)

呒

fǔperplexed; astonished+ 口 (mouth)

妩

wǔused in 嫵媚|妩媚[wu3 mei4]+ 女 (woman)

庑

wúvariant of 蕪|芜[wu2]+ 广 (shelter)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

村(cūn)

村 has a tree radical (木) meaning village, whereas 抚 has a hand radical (扌) meaning to comfort.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

老师轻轻地[___]着受惊的孩子。

Clue: fǔ

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the right side component 无 with similar looking components, or missing the hand radical 扌.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see 抚, what is its primary action meaning and tone?

Production: How do you write the character for 'to comfort' using a hand radical and the phonetic 'wú'?

抚fǔto comfort

Speed:

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