部 (bù) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

部

bù[bu4]Tone 4

ministry, department, section, part

HSK 2

Guru Deep Dive

English · ministry, department, section, part

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:11

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (立) is compact and slightly narrower, while the right side (咅) is wider and bears the vertical balance.

1. Meaning

ministry, department, section, or part

divisiontroopsboardclassifier for literature, films, and machines

Noun / ClassifierNeutral#organization#governance#structure#classification

Sample Usage

这部电影非常好看。
zhè bù diànyǐng fēicháng hǎokàn.
This movie is extremely good-looking.
他工作在教育部。
tā gōngzuò zài jiàoyùbù.
He works in the Ministry of Education.

2. Sound

/[pu⁵¹]/Tone: 51

部

bùbu4

`(51)

=bù

Initial Consonant

Type: Unaspirated Bilabial

Sounds like: English b sound

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: No burst of air. A tissue in front of lips should stay still.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Lips pressed together then released gently without a strong puff of air.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -u vowel group

Sounds like: English 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, identical to a firm command like 'No!' in English.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the 4th tone (bù) with the 2nd tone (bú) or neutral tone (bu) in rapid speech due to sandhi before 4th tone characters.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A sharp, forceful downward karate chop from high to low, mirroring the abrupt drop of Tone 4.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 11 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (立) is compact and slightly narrower, while the right side (咅) is wider and bears the vertical balance.

4. Components

Radical 邑 · City Radical (Right-side variant 阝) (settlement, town, region)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 阝 (Denotes region, territory, or administrative division.)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 咅 (original sound: pǒu / bù)

Composed of the standalone character 咅 (to spit out / divide) on the left and the city/territory wall radical 阝 on the right, signifying a divided administrative region or ministry.

咅 Phonetic clue and meaning hint of splitting or dividing
阝 Semantic domain of place, town, or administrative department

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

16· Phonetic Root: 咅 (pǒu)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally combined 咅 (representing division or partition) with 阝 (representing a city or territory), indicating an administrative zone or partitioned section of land.

Semantic Evolution: Expanded from a geographic territory or city district to mean any section, department, government ministry, or book division.

In ancient times, 部 referred to military divisions and tribal groupings.

6. Sinosphere

🇻🇳

Sino-Vietnamese

bộ

Corresponds to the Vietnamese nặng tone, matching the abrupt descending pitch.

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: ブ

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

부

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

At the city ministry (阝), officials stand together splitting up (咅) massive piles of documents into neat department sections.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

陪

péito accompanyAdd the mound radical on the left (阝) instead of right.

培

péito cultivateAdd earth radical (土) on the left.

剖

pōuto cut open / dissectAdd knife radical (刂) on the right.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

陪(péi)

陪 has the mound/city radical on the left (阝), whereas 部 has it on the right.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

这家公司有一个专门的技术[___]。

Clue: bù

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the left and right positioning of the 阝 radical with similar-looking characters like 陪 (péi).

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does 部 mean when used as a counter after words like 电影 (movie)?

Production: How do you write the character for 'ministry' or 'department' (bù)?

部bùministry, department, section, part

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