菩 (pú): used in 菩薩|菩萨, used in 菩提

菩 (pú) is a Chinese character meaning “used in 菩薩|菩萨.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 艹 (semantic) and 咅 (phonetic). It ranks #2158 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 菩 herb. Its radical form 艹 (grass) appears in many related characters such as 花 (huā, flower), 茶 (chá, tea), 菜 (cài, vegetable, dish).

Native pronunciation
HSK 7-9Radical: 艹 grass11 strokesFrequency #2158艹 semantic咅 phonetic

Definitions

  1. used in 菩薩|菩萨
  2. used in 菩提

Etymology & Origin

菩

pictophoneticherb

Decomposition: ⿱艹咅 (layout: top-bottom)

Components:艹semantic咅phonetic

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
菩萨pú sà(Buddhism) bodhisattva
菩提树pú tí shùpeepul (Ficus religiosa)
活菩萨huó pú sàa living Buddha
泥菩萨ní pú sàclay Bodhisattva
菩提道场pú tí dào chǎngBodhimanda (place of enlightenment associated with a Bodhisattva)
大愿地藏菩萨dà yuàn dì zàng pú sàKṣitigarbha Bodhisattva, the Bodhisattva of the Great Vow (to save all souls before accepting Bodhi)
泥菩萨过江，自身难保ní pú sà guò jiāng , zì shēn nán bǎolike a clay Bodhisattva fording a river, can't guarantee his own safety
大势至菩萨dà shì zhì pú sà(Buddhism) Mahasthamaprapta, the Great Strength Bodhisattva
金刚手菩萨jīn gāng shǒu pú sàVajrapani Bodhisattva
文殊师利菩萨wén shū shī lì pú sàManjushri, the Bodhisattva of keen awareness
观世音菩萨guān shì yīn pú sàGuanyin, the Bodhisattva of Compassion or Goddess of Mercy (Sanskrit Avalokiteśvara)
地藏王菩萨dì zàng wáng pú sàKṣitigarbha Bodhisattva, the Bodhisattva of the Great Vow (to save all souls before accepting Bodhi)
菩提达摩pú tí dá móBodhidharma
地藏菩萨dì zàng pú sàKṣitigarbha Bodhisattva, the Bodhisattva of the Great Vow (to save all souls before accepting Bodhi)
观音菩萨guān yīn pú sàGuanyin, the Bodhisattva of Compassion or Goddess of Mercy (Sanskrit Avalokiteśvara)
22
Total compounds
23
As first character
0
As last character
77
As middle character

菩 appears in 22 compound words: 23 as the first character, 0 as the last, and 77 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 菩 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

萨sà
0.58515,174 co-occurrences
藐miǎo
0.576894 co-occurrences
提tí
0.49722,524 co-occurrences
愣lèng
0.47490 co-occurrences
佛fó
0.4424,680 co-occurrences
戒jiè
0.4371,716 co-occurrences
音yīn
0.43713,020 co-occurrences
藏zàng
0.4354,860 co-occurrences
殊shū
0.4051,632 co-occurrences
摩mó
0.4022,316 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (6)

地藏菩萨Dìzàng PúsàHSK 7+

Kṣitigarbha bodhisattva

观音菩萨Guānyīn PúsàHSK 7+

Guanyin; benevolent person

noun
弥勒菩萨Mílè PúsàHSK 7+

Maitreya bodhisattva

菩提达摩PútídámóHSK 7+

Bodhidharma (traditionally regarded as the transmitter of the Chan school to China)

普贤菩萨Pǔxián PúsàHSK 7+

Samantabhadra bodhisattva

文殊菩萨WénshūpúsàHSK 7+

Manjushri bodhisattva

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

老师教我们菩字的发音和笔顺。

lǎo shī jiào wǒ men pú zì de fā yīn hé bǐ shùn .

The teacher taught us the pronunciation and stroke order of the character "普."

Character Family

艹 Radical Family — Characters sharing the grass radical

蔼ǎi艾ài芭bā薄báo蔽bì菜cài苍cāng藏zàng草cǎo茶chá

Related Characters

花huā茶chá菜cài节jié英yīng草cǎo药yào蓝lán艺yì苦kǔ

Homophones — Characters pronounced pú

仆pū扑pū葡pú浦pǔ

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 菩 (pú) mean in Chinese?
菩 (pú) primarily means "used in 菩薩|菩萨." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2158 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 菩 and 培?
菩 (pú) and 培 (péi) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 艹 vs 土 (same 咅 component).
How many strokes does 菩 have?
菩 is written with 11 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 菩?
The radical associated with 菩 is 艹 (grass). This radical appears in many characters related to grass.
What are the components of 菩?
菩 is composed of: 艹 (semantic), 咅 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱艹咅 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 菩?
Common words with 菩 include: 菩萨 (pú sà, "(Buddhism) bodhisattva"); 菩提树 (pú tí shù, "peepul (Ficus religiosa)"); 活菩萨 (huó pú sà, "a living Buddha"); 泥菩萨 (ní pú sà, "clay Bodhisattva"); 菩提道场 (pú tí dào chǎng, "Bodhimanda (place of enlightenment associated with a Bodhisattva)"). There are over 22 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 菩 (pú)?
Several characters share the pronunciation pú: 仆 (to fall forward), 扑 (to throw oneself at), 葡 (grape), 浦 (river bank). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 菩 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 菩 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 菩 with real-time feedback

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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.