埠 (bù): wharf; pier; landing place

Meanings

1 wharf; pier; landing place
2 a port town; commercial city

Characters

埠

bù

wharf; port town

Examples

船一靠埠，货物就卸下了。

Chuán yí kào bù, huòwù jiù xiè xià le.

The cargo was unloaded the moment the ship reached the wharf.

他常去外埠出差。

Tā cháng qù wàibù chūchāi.

He often travels to other cities on business.

Tips

usage

From 'wharf' it widened to mean a port city, then any city: 本埠 ('this city'), 外埠 ('out of town'), 商埠 ('treaty port'). The city sense is now the more common one.

Components

radical

土 tǔ

earth; ground

Left side is the earth radical 土, since a wharf is a built-up bank of earth at the water's edge for mooring boats.

phonetic

阜 fù

mound; sound element

Right side 阜 ('mound') is the sound part; the reading drifted to 埠, while its 'raised ground' meaning also fits a built-up landing.

Stroke Order

埠 bù

Related Words

蚌埠住了 bèngbùzhùle

(internet slang) can't hold it in anymore (laughing/crying) / I can't even / I'm dying (of laughter)

别处 biéchù #5,716

elsewhere / somewhere else / another place

摆 bǎi HSK 4 #1,629

to arrange / to place / to put / to swing

搬 bān HSK 3 #867

to move (objects from one place to another) / to relocate; to move (house)

地位 dìwèi HSK 4 #4,157

position; status; standing / rank; place (in society)

参观 cānguān HSK 2 #4,147

to visit (a place) / to tour

返回 fǎnhuí HSK 5 #3,816

to return to; to go back / to get back to (a place or state)

代替 dàitì HSK 4 #3,556

to replace / to substitute / to take the place of

放到 fàngdào HSK 3 #3,106

to put (somewhere); to place at / to leave (until a time)

蹲 dūn HSK 6 #2,702

to squat; to crouch / to stay (in a place); to hang around