夫 (fū): husband, man, manual worker
夫 (fū) is a Chinese character meaning “husband.” Classified as HSK Level 2 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 一 (structural) and 大 (structural). It ranks #377 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 夫 a man 大 wearing a coming-of-age hairpin 一. Its radical form 大 (big) appears in many related characters such as 大 (dà, big), 天 (tiān, day), 太 (tài, highest).
Definitions
- husband
- man
- manual worker
Etymology & Origin
ideographicA man 大 wearing a coming-of-age hairpin 一
Decomposition: ⿻一大 (layout: overlay)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 夫 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 夫
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 丈夫noun | zhàng fu | husband | 2 |
| 夫人noun | fū ren | lady | 6 |
| 夫妇noun | fū fù | a (married) couple | 5 |
| 功夫noun | gōng fu | skill | 4 |
| 大夫noun | dà fū | senior official (in imperial China) | 4 |
| 夫妻noun | fū qī | husband and wife | 3 |
| 工夫noun | gōng fū | (old) laborer | 6 |
| 下功夫verb | xià gōng fu | variant of 下工夫 | 6 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 高尔夫noun | gāo ěr fū | (loanword) golf |
| 杰夫 | jié fū | Jeff or Geoff (name) |
| 未婚夫noun | wèi hūn fū | fiancé |
| 懦夫noun | nuò fū | coward |
| 史蒂夫 | shǐ dì fū | Steve (male name) |
| 前夫noun | qián fū | former husband |
| 约瑟夫proper-noun | yuē sè fū | Joseph (name) |
| 高尔夫球 | gāo ěr fū qiú | golf |
| 屠夫noun | tú fū | butcher |
| 农夫noun | nóng fū | peasant |
| 渔夫noun | yú fū | fisherman |
| 第一夫人noun | dì yī fū rén | First Lady (wife of the head of state) |
| 拉尔夫proper-noun | lā ěr fū | Ralph (name) |
| 克利夫兰 | kè lì fū lán | Cleveland |
| 姐夫noun | jiě fu | (coll.) older sister's husband |
夫 appears in 104 compound words: 13 as the first character, 70 as the last, and 17 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 夫 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (23)
tyrant who has no support and brings disaster to the country and the people
the husband advocates/sings and the wife follows; harmony between husband and wife
tyrant who has no support and brings disaster to the country and the people
Showing 12 of 23 idioms containing 夫.
Example Sentences
农夫在田地里辛勤劳作，期待着丰收的季节。
Nóngfū zài tiándì lǐ xīnqín láozuò, qīdài zhe fēngshōu de jìjié.
The farmer works hard in the fields, looking forward to the harvest season.
陈伟智:人生还在战斗的九把刀─《功夫》是不是你还期待的那个模样?
chén wěi zhì : rén shēng hái zài zhàn dǒu de jiǔ bǎ dāo gōng fū shì bù shì nǐ hái qī dài de nà gè mó yàng ?
Chen Weizhi: The nine knives that are still fighting in life - is "Kung Fu" the look you are still looking forward to?
桃園人妻晨間潑酸毀夫雙眼 獲緩刑理由曝光
táo 園 rén qī chén 間 潑 suān 毀 fū 雙 yǎn 獲 緩 xíng lǐ yóu pù guāng
Taoyuan Wife Splashes Acid on Husband's Eyes in the Morning, Reason for Probation Revealed
威科夫接受專訪透露 奉川普指示會晤伊朗前王儲
wēi kē fū jiē shòu 專 訪 tòu lù fèng chuān pǔ zhǐ shì 會 wù yī lǎng qián wáng 儲
Witkoff's interview reveals he met with Iran's former crown prince at Trump's behest.
中國網軍4千帳戶攻擊高市早苗 矢板明夫:台日兩國正面對相同挑戰
zhōng 國 網 軍 qiān 帳 戶 gōng 擊 gāo shì zǎo miáo shǐ bǎn míng fū tái rì 兩 國 zhèng miàn 對 xiāng tóng tiāo 戰
Chinese Tennis Team Attacks Hayato Takashi with 4,000 Accounts Akio Yaban: Taiwan and Japan Face the Same Challenges
冬奥会|家乡连线:“最强夫妻档”!电影都不敢这么演..
dōng ào huì jiā xiāng lián xiàn zuì qiáng fū qī dàng ! diàn yǐng dōu bù gǎn zhè má yǎn . .
Winter Olympics | Home Connection: "The Strongest Couple Duo"! Even movies wouldn't dare portray it this way...
你昨晚睡得好吗，史蒂夫？
Nǐ zuówǎn shuì de hǎo ma, Shǐdìfū?
Did you sleep well last night, Steve?
"摆脱它, 当然!" 这个农夫回答。
"bǎituō tā, dāngrán!" zhège nóngfū huídá.
"Get rid of it, of course!" answered the farmer.
而我此时在利沃夫！
ér wǒ cǐshí zài lì wò fū!
And I'm in Lvov now!
高尔夫球场门可罗雀，一个人都没有！
Gāo'ěrfūqiúchǎng mén kě luó què, yī gè rén dōu méiyǒu!
The golf course is completely deserted. There is not a single person!
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
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Is 夫 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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