夫 meaning and stroke order
Man, husband; worker; those
How to write 夫, 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 夫
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- husband
- man
- manual worker
- conscripted laborer (old)
- (classical) this, that
- he, she, they
- (exclamatory final particle)
- (initial particle, introduces an opinion)
How 夫 is built
Ideographic (compound meaning) character. A man 大 wearing a coming-of-age hairpin 一.
Radical: 大 (big), shared by 46 characters on this site.
How to remember 夫
夫 is 大 (dà), a person standing with arms spread, plus an extra line 一 across the top, which the etymology describes as a coming-of-age hairpin. A grown man with his hairpin in place is ready to be a husband, 夫 (fū).
In modern Chinese 夫 rarely stands alone and mostly appears in words like 丈夫 (zhàngfu, husband), 夫妻 (fūqī, married couple) and 夫人 (fūrén, madam). Example: 她丈夫是医生。(Tā zhàngfu shì yīshēng.) Her husband is a doctor.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 夫 with 天 (tiān, sky). In 夫 the top stroke crosses the vertical line and sticks out above, while in 天 the top line sits on top and nothing pokes through. Also note that 丈夫 and 功夫 use a neutral tone on 夫 (fu), not fū.
Common words with 夫
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 功夫 | gōngfu | skill; art | HSK 3 |
| 大夫 | dàifu | senior official (in imperial China) | HSK 3 |
| 工夫 | gōngfu | (old) laborer | HSK 3 |
| 夫人 | fūrén | lady; madam | HSK 4 |
| 丈夫 | zhàngfu | husband | HSK 4 |
| 夫妇 | fūfù | a (married) couple; husband and wife | HSK 4 |
| 夫妻 | fūqī | husband and wife; married couple | HSK 4 |
| 高尔夫球 | gāo'ěrfūqiú | golf; golf ball | HSK 7-9 |
| 下功夫 | xià gōngfu | variant of 下工夫[xia4 gong1 fu5] | HSK 7-9 |
| 懦夫 | nuòfū | coward | |
| 未婚夫 | wèihūnfū | fiancé | |
| 前夫 | qiánfū | former husband | |
| 屠夫 | túfū | butcher; fig. murderous dictator | |
| 农夫 | nóngfū | peasant; farmer |
夫 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Characters that contain 夫
Learning 夫 makes these easier to recognize and write.
Questions about 夫
How many strokes are in 夫?
夫 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 夫 mean?
夫 (fū) means man, husband; worker; those. A common word with it is 功夫 (gōngfu), meaning "skill; art".
How do you pronounce 夫?
夫 is pronounced fū, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 夫?
The radical of 夫 is 大, which carries the idea of "big". Dictionaries list 夫 under this radical.
Is 夫 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 夫 is part of the HSK 3 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard, and you are expected to write it by hand from HSK 2.
Why is 大夫 sometimes read dàifu and sometimes dàfū?
In everyday speech 大夫 is read dàifu and commonly means a doctor. When it refers to a senior official in imperial China, it is read dàfū.
What does 夫 mean in classical Chinese texts?
There it is often read fú and works as a particle or pronoun. At the start of a sentence it introduces an opinion, roughly like "now" or "as for", and at the end it can express exclamation. It can also mean "this", "that" or "he, they".