凸 (tū): to stick out, protruding, convex, male (connector etc)

凸 (tū) is a Chinese character meaning “to stick out.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 一 (structural). It ranks #2668 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 凸 a rectangle with a bulge. Its radical form 凵 (open mouth) appears in many related characters such as 出 (chū, to go out), 击 (jī, to hit), 凶 (xiōng, terrible).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to stick out
  2. protruding
  3. convex
  4. male (connector etc)

Etymology & Origin

凸

ideographicA rectangle with a bulge

Components:一structural

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
凸显verbtū xiǎnto stand out clearly
凸出verbtū chūto protrude
凸起verbtū qǐconvex
凹凸adjectiveāo tūconcave or convex
凸现verbtū xiànto come to prominence
凹凸不平phraseāo tū bù píng(idiom) uneven (surface)
凸透镜nountū tòu jìngconvex lens
凸轮nountū lúncam
凸面nountū miànconvex surface
凸版nountū bǎnrelief printing plate
凸轮轴tū lún zhóucamshaft
凸多面体tū duō miàn tǐconvex polyhedron
凸多边形tū duō biān xíngconvex polygon
凸面体tū miàn tǐconvex body
凸多胞形tū duō bāo xíngconvex polytope
39
Total compounds
64
As first character
10
As last character
26
As middle character

凸 appears in 39 compound words: 64 as the first character, 10 as the last, and 26 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 凸 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

憋biē
0.89940 co-occurrences
勒lè
0.74945 co-occurrences
尿niào
0.72645 co-occurrences
腿tuǐ
0.65637 co-occurrences
凹āo
0.6471,917 co-occurrences
膀bǎng
0.60711 co-occurrences
薄báo
0.55111 co-occurrences
显xiǎn
0.4931,808 co-occurrences
肚dù
0.46680 co-occurrences
轴zhóu
0.445474 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

凹凸不平āotūbùpíngHSK 7+

uneven; bumpy

phrase
凹凸有致āotūyǒuzhìHSK 7+

having a full figure; shapely; curvaceous; voluptuous

adjective
凸版印刷tū bǎn yìn shuāHSK 7+

relief printing; typography; printing with metal plates

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

我在字典里查到了凸字的详细解释。

wǒ zài zì diǎn lǐ chá dào le tū zì de xiáng xì xiè shì .

I looked up the detailed explanation of the character "凸" in the dictionary.

99 健康网Mar 2026

双男张腿憋尿勒肚子小腹凸的能锻炼核心吗?不推荐以此方式训练

shuāng nán zhāng tuǐ biē niào lè dù zǐ xiǎo fù tū de néng duàn liàn hé xīn ma ? bù tuī jiàn yǐ cǐ fāng shì xùn liàn

Can the "double-leg spread, holding in urine, and tightening the abdomen" exercise—where the lower abdomen protrudes—help strengthen the core? This method is not recommended for training.

99 健康网Mar 2026

双男张腿憋尿勒肚子小腹凸的和体脂有关吗?低体脂者凸出更明显吗

shuāng nán zhāng tuǐ biē niào lè dù zǐ xiǎo fù tū de hé tǐ zhī yǒu guān ma ? dī tǐ zhī zhě tū chū gēng míng xiǎn ma

Is it related to body fat when two men spread their legs, hold in their urine, and have a protruding lower abdomen? Is the protrusion more noticeable in people with low body fat?

99 健康网Mar 2026

双男张腿憋尿勒肚子小腹凸的要立即排尿吗?超2小时增加感染风险吗

shuāng nán zhāng tuǐ biē niào lè dù zǐ xiǎo fù tū de yāo lì jí pái niào ma ? chāo 2 xiǎo shí zēng jiā gǎn rǎn fēng xiǎn ma

Should men who feel the urge to urinate—with their legs spread apart, a tight sensation in the abdomen, and a protruding lower belly—urinate immediately? Does waiting more than two hours increase the risk of infection?

99 健康网Mar 2026

双男张腿憋尿勒肚子小腹凸的要收紧核心吗?反而增加膀胱压力不利

shuāng nán zhāng tuǐ biē niào lè dù zǐ xiǎo fù tū de yāo shōu jǐn hé xīn ma ? fǎn ér zēng jiā bǎng 胱 yā lì bù lì

Should I tighten my core when I’m a man sitting with my legs spread apart, holding in my urine, and feeling pressure in my lower abdomen? Or does that actually increase pressure on the bladder and do more harm than good?

Hk01.comFeb 2026

...单身后衣着更大胆 穿吊带薄纱裙海边大晒凹凸有致身材

. . . dān shēn hòu yī zhe gēng dà dǎn chuān diào dài báo shā qún hǎi biān dà shài āo tū yǒu zhì shēn cái

... After being single, she dressed more boldly, wearing a suspender tulle skirt and a sunny figure on the beach

Tatoeba

如果人生是凸的,那我们可以优化它。

Rúguǒ rénshēng shì tū de, nà wǒmen kěyǐ yōuhuà tā.

If human life is convex, we can optimize it.

Tatoeba

他的体形生得很匀称!肩膀宽,腰身窄,肚子又没凸出来。

Tā de tǐxíng shēng dehěn yúnchèn! jiānbǎng kuān, yāo shēn zhǎi, dùzi yòu méi tūchū lái.

His body type is born balanced! Wide shoulders, slim waist, belly not popping outwards.

Character Family

凵 Radical Family — Characters sharing the open mouth radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced tū

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 凸 (tū) mean in Chinese?
凸 (tū) primarily means "to stick out." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2668 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 凸 and 母?
凸 (tū) and 母 (mǔ) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 凸 (male) vs 母 (female).
How many strokes does 凸 have?
凸 is written with 5 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 凸?
The radical associated with 凸 is 凵 (open mouth). This radical appears in many characters related to open mouth.
What are the components of 凸?
凸 is composed of: 一 (structural). Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 凸?
Common words with 凸 include: 凸显 (tū xiǎn, "to stand out clearly"); 凸出 (tū chū, "to protrude"); 凸起 (tū qǐ, "convex"); 凹凸 (āo tū, "concave or convex"); 凸现 (tū xiàn, "to come to prominence"). There are over 39 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 凸 (tū)?
Several characters share the pronunciation tū: 图 (diagram), 突 (sudden), 土 (earth, soil), 途 (way, journey), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 凸 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 凸 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 凸 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.