腹 (fù) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

腹

fù[fu4]Tone 4

abdomen

HSK 7

Guru Deep Dive

English · abdomen

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:12

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (flesh radical 月) is narrower and slightly taller, while the right side (复) provides the broader balancing structure.

1. Meaning

abdomen

stomachbellyinner part or center (e.g. 腹地 hinterland)

NounNeutral#anatomy#body parts

Sample Usage

他肚子疼。
tā dù zi téng.
He has a stomachache.
腹部手术很成功。
fù bù shǒu shù hěn chéng gōng.
The abdominal surgery was very successful.

2. Sound

/[fu⁵¹]/Tone: 51

腹

fùfu4

`(51)

=fù

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 as in 'four'

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Continuous smooth friction.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Top teeth gently touch the lower lip to produce the continuous labiodental fricative.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -u vowel group

Sounds like: -oo rhymes with 'too'

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, identical to a sharp command like 'NO!' or a sudden descending sigh.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the falling Tone 4 with Tone 3 (fù vs fǔ); make sure the pitch drops cleanly and steeply from top to bottom without dipping back up.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A sharp, forceful karate chop downward from high to low, representing the falling tone pitch.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 12 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (flesh radical 月) is narrower and slightly taller, while the right side (复) provides the broader balancing structure.

4. Components

Radical 月 · Flesh / Moon Radical (Meat or flesh when appearing on the left side of a character (simplified from 肉))

Semantic Clue (形旁): 月 (Indicates body parts, flesh, or organs)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 复 (original sound: fù)

The flesh radical (月) on the left represents the body tissues, combined with the phonetic component 复 (fù) which gives the pronunciation and hints at a return or repeating cavity inside the body.

月 Flesh / body part
复 Phonetic clue indicating sound fù

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

5· Phonetic Root: 复 (fù)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally formed by combining the flesh/meat signifier (肉/月) with the sound-bearer 复 to denote the fleshy belly or abdomen of a human body.

Semantic Evolution: Over time, 腹 expanded from literal human anatomy (stomach, abdomen) to metaphorical interiors such as inner thoughts (心腹 trusted aide) or geographical interiors (腹地 hinterland).

In ancient oracle bone scripts, the character clearly depicted human torso curves emphasizing the midsection.

6. Sinosphere

🇻🇳

Sino-Vietnamese

phúc

The entering/sắc tone in Sino-Vietnamese corresponds to Chinese Tone 4.

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: フク / Kun: はら

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

복

Sound Shift Bridge: The initial 'f' in Mandarin often bridges to 'f' or 'h' sound equivalents in related language contexts.

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Imagine your flesh (月) repeatedly (复) expanding and contracting when you do crunches to tone your belly (腹).

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

复

fùto repeat, complex, doublePhonetic Core (声旁)

蝮

fùinsect; poisonous snake (archaic)+ 虫 (insect)

馥

fùfragrance; scent+ 香 (fragrant)

鳆

fùHaliotis gigantea; sea ear+ 鱼 (fish)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

幅(fú)

幅 uses the cloth radical (巾) for textiles and scrolls, whereas 腹 uses the flesh radical (月) for body parts.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

他昨天吃坏了东西，现在[___]痛得很厉害。

Clue: fù

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the right-side phonetic component 复 with similar looking characters or misapplying Tone 3 instead of Tone 4.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does 腹 mean and how is it pronounced in Tone 4?

Production: How do you write the character for 'abdomen' using the flesh radical and the phonetic component for fù?

腹fùabdomen

Speed:

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