服 (fú) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

服

fú[fu2]Tone 2

clothes, to serve, to obey

HSK 1

Multiple Readings (多音字):

Guru Deep Dive

English · clothes, to serve, to obey

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:8

Writing Balance Rule: The left component (月/肉) is slender and compressed, while the right component (𠬝/𠛱) is wider and dominates the right half.

1. Meaning

clothes, garments, or dress

to serve in the military or prisonto obey or submit toto be convinced or to admireto take medicine or acclimatize

Noun / VerbNeutral#clothing#actions#attitudes

Sample Usage

这件衣服非常好看。
Zhè jiàn yīfú fēicháng hǎokàn.
This piece of clothing looks very nice.
我服了你的才能。
Wǒ fú le nǐ de cáinéng.
I admire your talent / I yield to your talent.

2. Sound

/[fu³⁵]/Tone: 35

服

fúfu2

´(35)

=fú

Initial Consonant

Type: Labiodental Fricative

Sounds like: f sound in English 'for'

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Continuous smooth friction.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Top teeth gently touch the lower lip, blowing air continuously.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -u vowel group

Sounds like: -u rhymes with oo in 'too'

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

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

Tone

T2 (35)

3 → 5 (35)

2nd Tone (Mid-Rising)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 2 starts at a mid pitch and rises sharply to the top, exactly like asking 'What?' in English disbelief.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the rising tone (Tone 2) with Tone 4 (falling), saying fù instead of fú.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A rising hand gesture moving upward like an elevator going from the ground floor to the second floor.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 8 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left component (月/肉) is slender and compressed, while the right component (𠬝/𠛱) is wider and dominates the right half.

4. Components

Radical 月 · Meat/Moon Radical (Meat or body part (when on the left side))

Semantic Clue (形旁): 月 (Represents the body wrapped in clothing)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 𠬝 (original sound: fú)

A person wrapping meat/body (月) with a covering or holding a boat paddle (𠬝), evolving into what we wear over our body (clothes) and what we submit to.

月 Body / Flesh
𠬝 Cover / Hand action

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

2· Phonetic Root: 服 (fú)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally depicted a person kneeling or submitting, or animal skins wrapped around the body as primitive garments.

Semantic Evolution: Shifted from physical animal skins and garments wrapped on the body to abstract meanings like taking medicine into the body, serving a sentence, and yielding or obeying.

The character originally showed a person wearing a traditional sash or garment.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: フク

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

복

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Imagine wrapping your body (月) in a fancy new uniform (服) before going out to serve (服) in the royal palace and making everyone admire (服) you.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

蝠

fúbatAdd the bug/insect radical (虫) on the left for a bat.

副

fùsecondary / assistantAdd the knife radical (刂) on the right for assistant/duplicate.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

报(bào)

报 has a hand/action radical on the left (扌), whereas 服 has the body/meat radical (月).

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

我今天买了一件新[___]。

Clue: yī fú

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the left component 月 with the moon, forgetting that on the left side of 服 it actually represents flesh or the human body wrapped in fabric.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see 服, what does it mean when combined with 衣 (yīfu)?

Production: How do you write the character for 'clothes / to obey' (fú) with 8 strokes?

服fúclothes, to serve, to obey

Speed:

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