Airflow Tactile Test: No burst of air. A tissue in front of lips should stay still.
Tongue & Mouth Position: Both lips closed together, releasing air gently without an audible puff.
Final Rhyme
u
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 drops sharply to the bottom, similar to saying 'No!' or 'Stop!' in English with absolute finality.
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Listening trap: Confusing the sharp falling tone (Tone 4) with Tone 3 or Tone 1. Ensure the pitch drops decisively from high to low.
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Physical Tone Gesture: A sharp, quick downward chopping motion with your hand, like driving a stake into the ground.
3. Writing
Topology: Top-bottom · Strokes: 7 strokes
Writing Balance Rule: The top component should be compact and balanced, while the bottom component extends gracefully to support the whole character.
4. Components
Radical止 · Foot / Stop Radical (foot, to stop)
Semantic Clue (形旁):止 (represents a foot or footprint)
Originally depicted two feet (one above the other) walking or pacing in succession, symbolizing a step or a march.
止 foot / stop component on top
少 slight variant shape on the bottom representing a trailing foot
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
2· Phonetic Root: 步 (bù)
5. History
Liushu category: Compound ideogram (会意)
Origin: In Oracle Bone scripts, 步 was drawn as two footprints (one pointing forward above another), depicting the alternating movement of walking step by step.
Semantic Evolution: From the literal action of walking and footsteps, it extended to mean a single pace, stages in a process, and general progress or situations.
6. Sinosphere
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Sino-Vietnamese
bộ
Mandarin Tone 4 corresponds roughly to Vietnamese falling or heavy tone contours.