乏 meaning and stroke order
Poor; short, lacking; tired
How to write 乏, stroke by stroke
4 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
Meaning of 乏
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- short of
- tired
How 乏 is built
Ideographic (compound meaning) character. A foot 之 running into a wall or barrier 丿.
Radical: 丿 (slash), shared by 19 characters on this site.
How to remember 乏
The bottom part 之 is a foot on the move, and the slanted stroke 丿 on top is a wall or barrier it runs into. Blocked and worn out, the traveler is tired and short of what it needs, so 乏 (fá) means lacking or tired.
乏 rarely stands alone in modern speech. It mostly appears in words like 缺乏 (quēfá, to lack) and 乏味 (fáwèi, dull). Example: 他缺乏经验。(Tā quēfá jīngyàn.) He lacks experience.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 乏 with 之 (zhī), since 乏 is just 之 with an extra 丿 on top. Without that top stroke you get a different character. Also note that the tone is second tone, fá, not fǎ like 法.
Common words with 乏
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
乏 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Characters that contain 乏
Learning 乏 makes these easier to recognize and write.
Questions about 乏
How many strokes are in 乏?
乏 is written with 4 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 乏 mean?
乏 (fá) means poor; short, lacking; tired. A common word with it is 缺乏 (quēfá), meaning "to lack; to be short of".
How do you pronounce 乏?
乏 is pronounced fá, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 乏?
The radical of 乏 is 丿, which carries the idea of "slash". Dictionaries list 乏 under this radical.
Is 乏 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 乏 is part of the HSK 5 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
Can 乏 be used by itself to mean tired?
Yes, in some northern and colloquial speech people say 我有点乏了 (wǒ yǒudiǎn fá le), meaning I am a bit tired. In standard everyday Mandarin, 累 (lèi) is far more common for tired.
What is the difference between 缺乏 and 匮乏?
缺乏 (quēfá) is the general word for lacking something, such as experience, confidence, or resources. 匮乏 (kuìfá) is more formal and usually describes a serious shortage of material things like supplies, money, or food.