辐 (fú) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

辐

fú[fu2]Tone 2

spoke of a wheel

HSK 7

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輻

Guru Deep Dive

English · spoke of a wheel

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:13

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (车) takes up about one-third of the width, leaving the right component (畐) ample space to breathe and maintain vertical stability.

Simplification Logic: Simplified from 輻 to 辐 by simplifying the left-hand side from 車 to 车.

1. Meaning

spoke (of a wheel)

rayradiating spoke

NounLiteraryBound morpheme#technology#transportation#machinery

Sample Usage

车轮的辐条
chē lún de fú tiáo
wheel spokes
辐射
fú shè
radiation (radiating outward like spokes)

2. Sound

/[fu³⁵]/Tone: 35

辐

fúfu2

´(35)

=fú

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 'foot'

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Continuous smooth friction.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Lower lip touching upper teeth lightly, air gently forced through.

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

T2 (35)

3 → 5 (35)

2nd Tone (Mid-Rising)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 2 rises like a questioning English sentence (e.g. 'What?').

Sandhi: When followed by another Tone 2 syllable, the tone shifts to a high rising contour.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing it with Tone 4 (fù) or mistaking the initial 'f-' for an English 'v-' sound.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A rising hand gesture starting from a comfortable mid-low chest level and soaring upward like an airplane taking off.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 13 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (车) takes up about one-third of the width, leaving the right component (畐) ample space to breathe and maintain vertical stability.

Simplification Logic: Simplified from 輻 to 辐 by simplifying the left-hand side from 車 to 车.

4. Components

Radical 车 · Car / Vehicle Radical (Vehicles, carts, and mechanical wheels)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 车 (Indicates that the word relates to vehicles or cart parts (wheels).)

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

A vehicle part (车) combined with a jar or container shape (畐) that provides the sound 'fú', referring to the spoke radiating out from the center like water pouring from a jar.

车 Vehicle or cart
畐 Phonetic indicator providing the sound 'fú'

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

9· Phonetic Root: 畐

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from the cart radical (车) and 畐 (fú), created to describe the wooden spokes that connect the hub to the rim of an ancient cart wheel.

Semantic Evolution: Originally referring strictly to wooden cart spokes, its meaning expanded metaphorically to anything radiating outward from a central point, such as radiation (辐射).

Ancient Chinese cartwrights paid meticulous attention to the even distribution of spokes to ensure chariot balance.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: フク

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

복

Sound Shift Bridge: Shared East Asian root vocabulary in specialized technical registers.

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Imagine a CHARIOT (车) with a WINE JAR (畐) strapped to the wheel center, sending WOODEN SPOKES shooting out like rays of light.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

畐

Phonetic Core (声旁)

富

fùrich, wealthy, abundant+ 宀 (roof)

福

fúgood fortune, happiness, luck+ 礻 (spirit)

副

fùsecondary, auxiliary, deputy, vice-, classifier for pairs or sets+ 刂 (knife)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

幅(fú)

辐 has 车 (vehicle) for wheel spokes; 幅 has 巾 (cloth) for fabric width.

福(fú)

辐 has 车 (vehicle); 福 has 礻 (blessing/altar).

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

自行车的前后轮都有许多[___]。

Clue: fú

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing 辐 (fú - spokes) with 幅 (fú - width of cloth) due to sharing the exact same phonetic component 畐.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does the character 辐 mean, and what is its radical?

Production: How do you write the character for 'wheel spoke' (fú) using the vehicle radical?

辐fúspoke of a wheel

Speed:

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