吐 meaning and stroke order
To spit; to send out (silk from a silkworm, bolls from cotton flowers etc); to say
How to write 吐, stroke by stroke
6 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
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- 4
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- 6
Meaning of 吐
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- to spit
- to send out (silk from a silkworm, bolls from cotton flowers etc)
- to say
- to pour out (one's grievances)
- to vomit
- to throw up
How 吐 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Mouth.
口 gives the meaning and 土 hints at the sound.
Radical: 口 (mouth), shared by 428 characters on this site.
How to remember 吐
吐 combines a mouth 口 (kǒu) with earth 土 (tǔ), which gives the sound. Picture a mouth on the left pushing something out onto the ground on the right.
Read it tǔ when you spit or let something out on purpose, as in 吐痰 (tǔtán, to spit) or 吐露 (tǔlù, to disclose). Read it tù when you vomit involuntarily, as in 呕吐 (ǒutù). Example: 他喝多了，吐了。(Tā hē duō le, tù le.) He drank too much and threw up.
Common mistake: Learners often use one tone for every meaning. Spitting out a seed is 吐 (tǔ), third tone, but throwing up is 吐 (tù), fourth tone. Also do not confuse the right side 土 (earth) with 士 (shì), whose bottom stroke is shorter.
Common words with 吐
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 呕吐 | ǒutù | to vomit | HSK 7-9 |
| 吐司 | tǔsī | sliced bread (loanword from "toast") | |
| 吐口 | tǔkǒu | to spit; fig. to spit out (a request, an agreement etc) | |
| 呕吐物 | ǒutùwù | vomit | |
| 吐露 | tǔlù | to tell; to disclose | |
| 吐气 | tǔqì | to exhale; to breathe out; (fig.) to let out pent-up feelings; to vent suppressed emotions | |
| 吐痰 | tǔtán | to spit; to expectorate | |
| 吐血 | tùxiě | to cough up blood; (coll.) (used figuratively to indicate an extreme degree of anger or fr |
吐 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 吐
How many strokes are in 吐?
吐 is written with 6 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 吐 mean?
吐 (tǔ) means to spit; to send out (silk from a silkworm, bolls from cotton flowers etc); to say. A common word with it is 呕吐 (ǒutù), meaning "to vomit".
How do you pronounce 吐?
吐 is pronounced tǔ, in the third tone (dipping).
What is the radical of 吐?
The radical of 吐 is 口, which carries the idea of "mouth". Dictionaries list 吐 under this radical.
Is 吐 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 吐 is part of the HSK 5 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
How do I say 'spit out the bones' or 'spit out a seed' in Chinese?
Use 吐 (tǔ) with the thing as the object, for example 把骨头吐出来 (bǎ gǔtou tǔ chūlái), spit the bones out. The third tone is used because it is deliberate.
Why does 吐司 mean toast?
吐司 (tǔsī) is a sound loan from the English word toast, so 吐 here only provides the sound. In everyday use it usually means sliced sandwich bread, toasted or not.