扑 (pū) · to throw oneself at; to pounce on

Meanings

1 to throw oneself at; to pounce on
2 to rush at; to flap; to pat

Characters

扑

pū

to pounce; to throw oneself at

Examples

HSK 5

蝴蝶扑着翅膀飞走了。

Húdié pū zhe chìbǎng fēi zǒu le.

The butterfly flapped its wings and flew away.

HSK 6

猫扑向了那只老鼠。

Māo pū xiàng le nà zhī lǎoshǔ.

The cat pounced on the mouse.

HSK 7-9

一股香味扑鼻而来。

Yī gǔ xiāngwèi pūbí ér lái.

A fragrant aroma hit the nose.

Tips

usage

扑鼻 (pū bí) is an elegant expression meaning '(fragrance) hits the nose.' 扑克 (pūkè) means 'poker' (playing cards) - borrowed from English!

Components

radical

扌 shǒu

hand (radical form of 手)

Left indexing hand radical 扌 - left-side variant of 手. Anchors 扑 in the hand-action family alongside 打 (hit), 推 (push), 抓 (grab), 拍 (pat). To pounce or lunge is fundamentally a hand-and-body movement: the hand strikes forward to seize.

phonetic

卜 bǔ

divination crack (here phonetic)

Right 卜 supplies the sound (bǔ → pū through b/p alternation). The traditional 撲 had a much more elaborate 菐 phonetic; the 1956 reform reduced it to the minimal 卜, which kept just enough phonetic match. 卜 itself depicts the cracks in a heated tortoise-shell used in oracle-bone divination; pure phonetic role here. Same simplified family: 朴 (simple), 仆 (servant).