噗 (pū) · (onomatopoeia) pfft, pop, plop

Meanings

1 (onomatopoeia) pfft
2 pop
3 plop
4 putt-putt

Characters

噗

pū

(onomatopoeia) pop; pfft

Examples

HSK 3

她噗地笑了出来。

Tā pū de xiào le chūlái.

She burst out laughing (with a 'pfft').

HSK 6

噗的一声，气球爆了。

Pū de yī shēng, qìqiú bào le.

Pop! The balloon burst.

Tips

usage

Used as an onomatopoeia for sudden bursting sounds (balloons, laughter) or sputtering sounds (motors). In internet slang, 噗 is used to express stifled laughter.

Components

radical

口 kǒu

mouth

Left mouth radical signalling onomatopoeia - 噗 is the written form of the puff sound, the burst of air for a stifled laugh or something landing softly. The radical is the giveaway that you are looking at a sound effect, not a word with a denotational meaning.

phonetic

菐 pú

thick growth (phonetic)

Right 菐 supplies the sound pú → pū. This phonetic core is rarely seen alone but powers a whole p-initial family: 朴 (simple), 仆 (servant), 扑 (pounce), 璞 (uncut jade). 菐 itself once depicted thick tangled grass; here it is purely a sound carrier.