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尃

fū
verb

Meanings

  1. 1 (archaic) to spread out; to distribute; to broadcast
  2. 2 ancient form of 敷; mainly a phonetic stem in modern characters

Tips

history
Phono-semantic compound: 甫 (fǔ, 'garden' or a polite-name suffix) supplies the sound, 寸 (a hand) the action — together 'a hand spreading something out, like seed across a field'. 尃 is the original of 敷 'to spread, apply'; the modern 敷 simply added 攵 (a striking-action component) to the same root.
usage
Now seen only as a component, but a hard-working one: 博 (broad, learned), 搏 (strike), 薄 (thin), 缚 (bind), 傅 (tutor / surname Fu), 溥 (vast / surname Pu). All keep the fū / bó shell and the 'spread, reach widely' flavour.

Components

phonetic
甫 fǔ
garden plot; just begun
Top 甫 supplies the sound (fǔ → fū, just a tone shift). 甫 itself depicts a garden plot with seedlings sprouting — the picture of laying out something in rows. That spreading-out image is exactly the meaning of 尃: to lay out, distribute, broadcast. Same phonetic family includes 博 broad, 搏 to grapple, 薄 thin, 缚 to bind.
semantic
寸 cùn
inch; precise hand
Bottom 寸 — a hand with a marker dot at the wrist showing the pulse-point. In 尃 the hand is the agent: someone deliberately laying things out, distributing seeds across a plot, spreading information abroad. 尃 is the ancient form behind modern 敷 (to apply, spread on); the 寸 here marks careful manual action.

Stroke Order

尃 fū