蒲 (pú): surname Pu, old place name, refers to various monocotyledonous flowering plants including Acorus calamus and Typha orientalis

蒲 (pú) is a Chinese character meaning “old place name.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 艹 (semantic) and 浦 (phonetic). It ranks #3547 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 蒲 plant. Its radical form 艹 (grass) appears in many related characters such as 蒸 (zhēng, to steam), 草 (cǎo, grass), 花 (huā, flower).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. surname Pu
  2. old place name
  3. refers to various monocotyledonous flowering plants including Acorus calamus and Typha orientalis

Etymology & Origin

蒲

pictophoneticplant

Decomposition: ⿱艹浦 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
蒲公英nounpú gōng yīngdandelion (Taraxacum mongolicum)
蒲团nounpú tuánpraying mat (Buddhism, made of woven cattail)
香蒲xiāng púTypha orientalis
蒲扇nounpú shànpalm-leaf fan
蒲福风级pú fú fēng jíBeaufort scale for wind speed
蒲式耳pú shì ěrbushel (eight gallons)
肉蒲团ròu pú tuánThe Carnal Prayer Mat, Chinese erotic novel from 17th century, usually attributed to Li Yu 李漁|李渔
蒲甘王朝pú gān wáng cháoBagan (Pagan) Dynasty of Myanmar (Burma), 1044-1287
蒲隆地proper-nounpú lóng dìBurundi (Tw)
蒲包pú bāocattail bag
蒲城县pú chéng xiànPucheng, a county in Weinan City 渭南市, Shaanxi
蒲城pú chéngsee 蒲城縣|蒲城县
蒲草箱pú cǎo xiāngrush basket
水菖蒲shuǐ chāng púAcorus calamus
蒲松龄pú sōng língPu Songling (1640-1715), author of 聊齋志異|聊斋志异
30
Total compounds
80
As first character
10
As last character
10
As middle character

蒲 appears in 30 compound words: 80 as the first character, 10 as the last, and 10 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 蒲 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

姚yáo
0.87610 co-occurrences
富fù
0.52410 co-occurrences
夜yè
0.52211 co-occurrences
密mì
0.51110 co-occurrences
商shāng
0.42910 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

蒲福风级pú fú fēng jí

Beaufort scale for wind speed

phrase

Example Sentences

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

据史料记载,其为唐代河东蒲州河中府人(今山西运城永乐镇)。

jù shǐ liào jì zài , qí wéi táng dài hé dōng pú zhōu hé zhōng fǔ rén ( jīn shān xī yùn chéng yǒng lè zhèn ) .

According to historical records, he was a native of Hedong’s Puzhou, Hezhong Prefecture, during the Tang Dynasty (present-day Yongle Town, Yuncheng, Shanxi).

中国新闻网·生活Jun 2026

护血管: 蒲公英富含β-胡萝卜素,有助于清除血管壁“垃圾”,帮助保护血管。

hù xiě guǎn : pú gōng yīng fù hán hú luó bǔ sù , yǒu zhù yú qīng chú xiě guǎn bì lā jī , bāng zhù bǎo hù xiě guǎn .

Protects Blood Vessels: Dandelions are rich in beta-carotene, which helps remove “debris” from blood vessel walls and helps protect the blood vessels.

中国新闻网·生活Jun 2026

在广西河池市宜州区,街道两侧的蒲桃树上也挂满了金黄色的果实。

zài guǎng xī hé chí shì yí zhōu qū , jiē dào liǎng cè de pú táo shù shàng yě guà mǎn le jīn huáng sè de guǒ shí .

In Yizhou District, Hechi City, Guangxi, the star apple trees lining both sides of the streets are also laden with golden-yellow fruit.

中国新闻网·文化May 2026

中国国家博物馆里“说聊斋” 蒲松龄手稿真迹展出

zhōng guó guó jiā bó wù guǎn lǐ shuō liáo zhāi pú sōng líng shǒu gǎo zhēn jì zhǎn chū

"Tales from the Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio" at the National Museum of China: Original Manuscripts by Pu Songling on Display

少数派May 2026

诚如蒲柏诗中所言:上帝说,要有牛顿;就有了光。

chéng rú pú bǎi shī zhōng suǒ yán : shàng dì shuō , yào yǒu niú dùn ; jiù yǒu le guāng .

As Pope wrote in his poem: God said, “Let there be Newton,” and there was light.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 艹 (plant) component

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 蒲 (pú) mean in Chinese?
蒲 (pú) primarily means "old place name." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #3547 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 蒲 have?
蒲 is written with 13 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 蒲?
The radical associated with 蒲 is 艹 (grass). This radical appears in many characters related to grass.
What are the components of 蒲?
蒲 is composed of: 艹 (semantic), 浦 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱艹浦 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 蒲?
Common words with 蒲 include: 蒲公英 (pú gōng yīng, "dandelion (Taraxacum mongolicum)"); 蒲团 (pú tuán, "praying mat (Buddhism, made of woven cattail)"); 香蒲 (xiāng pú, "Typha orientalis"); 蒲扇 (pú shàn, "palm-leaf fan"); 蒲福风级 (pú fú fēng jí, "Beaufort scale for wind speed"). There are over 30 compound words containing this character.
Is 蒲 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 蒲 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 蒲 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken 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.