(): hatchet

() is a Chinese character meaning “hatchet.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (phonetic) and (semantic). It ranks #2614 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, axe. Its radical form (axe) appears in many related characters such as (xīn, abbr. for Xinjiang 新疆[Xin1 jiang1]), (jīn, catty), (duàn, to break).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. hatchet

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticaxe

Decomposition: ⿱父斤 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Practice writing with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
fǔ tóuax
fǔ ziaxe
guǐ fǔ shén gōngsupernaturally fine craft (idiom)
dà dāo kuò fǔbold and decisive
bǎn fǔbroad axe
bān mén nòng fǔto display one's slight skill before an expert (idiom)
dāo fǔ shǒulictor
shén gōng guǐ fǔsupernaturally fine craft (idiom)
fǔ zhèng(polite) please amend my writing
bù bì fǔ yuènot trying to avoid the battle-ax (idiom)
zhàn fǔbattle-ax
lián dāo fǔ tóuthe hammer and sickle (flag of USSR, symbolizing rural and proletarian labor)
zī fǔ(literary) money for a journey
fǔ yuè zhī zhūto die by battle-ax (idiom)
kuān fǔbroadax
18
Total compounds
28
As first character
39
As last character
33
As middle character

appears in 18 compound words: 28 as the first character, 39 as the last, and 33 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

0.549642 co-occurrences
kǎn
0.5371,254 co-occurrences
dāo
0.5083,018 co-occurrences
bǐng
0.476780 co-occurrences
kuò
0.456570 co-occurrences
tóu
0.4402,580 co-occurrences
chǎn
0.438120 co-occurrences
záo
0.428180 co-occurrences
chú
0.41448 co-occurrences
chuí
0.404102 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (6)

bānménnòngfǔHSK 7+

to show off one's inferior talent or skill in front of an expert; to teach an expert how to do things

phrase
dàdāokuòfǔHSK 7+

to handle something with daring and resolve; to be bold and decisive when handling an issue; drastic

phrase
guǐfǔshéngōngHSK 7+

superlative craftsmanship; supernaturally fine craft (as if done by the spirits)

phrase
shén gōng guǐ fǔHSK 7+

supernaturally fine craft (idiom); the work of the Gods; uncanny workmanship; superlative craftsmanship

phrase
cāo fǔ fá kēHSK 7+

(cf Book of Songs) How to fashion an ax handle? You need an ax; fig. to follow a principle; fig. to act as matchmaker

phrase
dāo jù fǔ yuèHSK 7+

knife, saw, ax and hatchet (idiom); facing torture and execution

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

正文章,精益求精。

Fǔzhèng wénzhāng, jīngyìqiújīng.

Polish writing to strive for perfection.

NewtalkApr 2026

...朗打光了! 美通知日本 若要 400枚战 得再等等

. . . lǎng dǎ guāng le ! měi tōng zhī rì běn ruò yāo 4 0 0 méi zhàn fǔ dé zài děng děng

東森新聞Apr 2026

北投惊传头砍人!疑同事间纠纷 惊悚瞬间曝

běi tóu jīng chuán fǔ tóu kǎn rén ! yí tóng shì jiān jiū fēn jīng 悚 shùn jiān pù

NewtalkApr 2026

日“鸟海号”改装可射战导弹! 搭JSM“海空双轨”射程覆盖大半...

rì niǎo hǎi hào gǎi zhuāng kě shè zhàn fǔ dǎo dàn ! dā J S M hǎi kōng shuāng guǐ shè chéng fù gài dà bàn . . .

Tatoeba

他用头重重的斩了一下,那棵树就倒了下来。

Tāyòng fǔtóu chóngchóng de zhǎn le yīxià, nà kē shù jiù dǎo le xiàlai.

The tree was felled with one hard blow of his ax.

Character Family

Radical Family — Characters sharing the axe radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 斧 (fǔ) mean in Chinese?
斧 (fǔ) primarily means "hatchet." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2614 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 斧 have?
斧 is written with 8 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 斧?
The radical associated with 斧 is 斤 (axe). This radical appears in many characters related to axe.
What are the components of 斧?
斧 is composed of: 父 (phonetic), 斤 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱父斤 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 斧?
Common words with 斧 include: 斧头 (fǔ tóu, "ax"); 斧子 (fǔ zi, "axe"); 鬼斧神工 (guǐ fǔ shén gōng, "supernaturally fine craft (idiom)"); 大刀阔斧 (dà dāo kuò fǔ, "bold and decisive"); 板斧 (bǎn fǔ, "broad axe"). There are over 18 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 斧 (fǔ)?
Several characters share the pronunciation fǔ: 夫 (husband), 服 (clothes, serve), 符 (mark), 福 (abbr. for Fujian province 福建省), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 斧 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 斧 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.