仆 (pú): servant, to fall forward, to fall prostrate

仆 (pú) is a Chinese character meaning “servant.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 亻 (semantic) and 卜 (phonetic). It ranks #1795 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 仆 person. Its radical form 亻 (person) appears in many related characters such as 人 (rén, person), 什 (shén, what), 今 (jīn, now).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. servant
  2. to fall forward
  3. to fall prostrate

Etymology & Origin

仆

pictophoneticperson

Decomposition: ⿰亻卜 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
仆人nounpú rénservant
女仆nounnǚ púfemale servant
公仆noungōng púpublic servant
奴仆nounnú púservant
仆役nounpú yìservant
前仆后继phraseqián pū hòu jìone falls, the next follows (idiom)
主仆nounzhǔ púmaster and servant
风尘仆仆fēng chén pú púlit. covered in dust (idiom)
更仆难数gēng pú nán shǔtoo many to count
太仆nountài púministerial title in imperial China (in the Qin and Han dynasties, the minister responsible for the imperial stables)
太仆寺proper-nountài pú sìCourt of imperial stud, office originally charged with horse breeding
太仆寺旗tài pú sì qíTaibus Banner in Xilingol League 錫林郭勒盟|锡林郭勒盟, Inner Mongolia
仆欧nounpú ōu(old) waiter (loanword from "boy")
太仆寺卿tài pú sì qīngMinister of imperial stud, originally charged with horse breeding
臣仆nounchén púservant
17
Total compounds
18
As first character
47
As last character
35
As middle character

仆 appears in 17 compound words: 18 as the first character, 47 as the last, and 35 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 仆 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

射shè
0.5514,828 co-occurrences
寺sì
0.5313,002 co-occurrences
尚shàng
0.5082,562 co-occurrences
太tài
0.4824,264 co-occurrences
奴nú
0.470724 co-occurrences
左zuǒ
0.4671,984 co-occurrences
书shū
0.4592,548 co-occurrences
右yòu
0.4591,760 co-occurrences
赠zèng
0.407226 co-occurrences
少shǎo
0.4051,810 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

风尘仆仆fēng chén pú púHSK 7+

lit. covered in dust (idiom); fig. travel-worn

phrase
更仆难数gēng pú nán shǔHSK 7+

too many to count; very many; innumerable

phrase
前仆后继qiánpūhòujìHSK 7+

to bravely advance without fear of sacrificing

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这位老仆虽然年过八旬,但身体依然硬朗。

zhè wèi lǎo pū suī rán nián guò bā xún , dàn shēn tī yī rán yìng lǎng .

Though over eighty years old, the old servant remained in robust health.

Hk01.comApr 2026

宏福苑|屈颖妍:公仆以“唔关我事”推诿 结果现在人人都关事

hóng fú 苑 qū yǐng 妍 : gōng pū yǐ 唔 guān wǒ shì tuī 诿 jié guǒ xiàn zài rén rén dōu guān shì

Hongfu Garden | Qu Yingyan: Public servants shirked responsibility by saying, "It's none of my business," but now it concerns everyone

Orientaldaily MyApr 2026

内阁下令改进营业执照审批流程 公仆居家办公首阶涵盖特定区域

nèi gé xià lìng gǎi jìn yíng yè zhí zhào shěn pī liú chéng gōng pū jū jiā bàn gōng shǒu jiē hán gài tè dìng qū yù

Cabinet Orders Improvements to Business License Approval Process; First Phase of Work-from-Home Policy for Public Servants Covers Specific Areas

Hk01.comMar 2026

71岁林建明打羽毛球前街头仆倒双膝擦损 叹年纪大:身体系弱咗

7 1 suì lín jiàn míng dǎ yǔ máo qiú qián jiē tóu pū dǎo shuāng xī cā sǔn tàn nián jì dà : shēn tǐ xì ruò 咗

71-year-old Lin Jianming fell on the street and scraped both knees before playing badminton; he sighed, "I'm getting old—my body just isn't what it used to be."

Orientaldaily MyMar 2026

特定公仆居家上班措施 甲州政府仍未商讨

tè dìng gōng pū jū jiā shàng bān cuò shī jiǎ zhōu zhèng fǔ réng wèi shāng tǎo

Measures for specific public servants to work from home: The Kanto Regional Government has yet to discuss the matter

東方日報Mar 2026

Kim出席奥斯卡派对当众仆亲 被助手托巨胸救驾

K i m chū xí ào sī kǎ pài duì dāng zhòng pū qīn bèi zhù shǒu tuō jù xiōng jiù jià

Kim fell flat on her face at an Oscars party, and her assistant stepped in to save the day by supporting her ample bust

Tatoeba

心灵应该当一个好仆人,但心应该是主人。

Xīnlíng yīnggāi dāng yī gè hǎo púrén, dàn xīn yīnggāi shì zhǔrén.

The mind should be a good servant, but the heart should be the master.

Tatoeba

汤姆让他的仆人们在黑暗下进餐。

Tāngmǔ ràng tā de púrén men zài hēi'àn xià jìncān.

Tom made his servants eat in the dark.

Tatoeba

连他的仆人都鄙视他

Lián tā de púrén dōu bǐshì tā

Even his servants despised him.

Tatoeba

江枫的仆人雇了十二生肖杀江枫,他们伏击了江枫和江枫的妻子月奴。

Jiāng Fēng de púrén gù le Shí èr Shēngxiào shā Jiāng Fēng, tāmen fújī le Jiāng Fēng hé Jiāng Fēng de qīzi Yuènú.

Jiang Feng's servant hired the "Twelve Zodiacs" to kill him. They ambushed him and his wife Yuenu.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 亻 (person) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced pú

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 仆 (pú) mean in Chinese?
仆 (pú) primarily means "servant." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #1795 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 仆 and 起?
仆 (pú) and 起 (qǐ) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 仆 (fall) vs 起 (rise).
How many strokes does 仆 have?
仆 is written with 4 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 仆?
The radical associated with 仆 is 亻 (person). This radical appears in many characters related to person.
What are the components of 仆?
仆 is composed of: 亻 (semantic), 卜 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰亻卜 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 仆?
Common words with 仆 include: 仆人 (pú rén, "servant"); 女仆 (nǚ pú, "female servant"); 公仆 (gōng pú, "public servant"); 奴仆 (nú pú, "servant"); 仆役 (pú yì, "servant"). There are over 17 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 仆 (pú)?
Several characters share the pronunciation pú: 扑 (to throw oneself at), 普 (general, universal), 铺 (store), 葡 (grape), and 3 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 仆 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 仆 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 仆 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.