敷 (fū): to apply (medicine, cream, etc.)

Meanings

1 to apply (medicine, cream, etc.)
2 to spread on
3 to lay on

Characters

敷

fū

to apply; to spread on

Examples

她每天晚上敷面膜。

Tā měitiān wǎnshàng fūmiànmó.

She applies a face mask every evening.

医生让我在伤口上敷药。

Yīshēng ràngwǒ zài shāngkǒu shàng fū yào.

The doctor told me to apply medicine on the wound.

Tips

usage

敷 is used for applying substances to skin: 敷面膜 (apply a face mask), 敷药 (apply medicine), 敷冰 (apply ice). It implies laying something flat on a surface.

mistakes

Don't confuse 敷 (fū, apply to skin) with 涂 (tú, smear/paint). 敷 is for patches and compresses laid on; 涂 is for rubbing/smearing creams or paint.

Components

radical

攵 pū

to tap; strike (radical form of 攴)

Right-side tap/strike radical, the side-form of 攴, four strokes depicting a hand holding a stick. Anchors 敷 as an active doing-with-the-hand verb — applying ointment, dressing a wound, spreading something physically. Same action family: 收 (gather), 政 (govern), 改 (alter), 教 (teach).

phonetic

旉 fū

to spread; flower (here phonetic + semantic)

Left side 旉 supplies the sound — exact fū. It also adds meaning: 旉 itself means 'to spread, to scatter, to bloom.' Combined with the action-radical 攵 on the right, 敷 keeps that meaning of spreading something out — applying medicine, laying out a cloth, expounding (敷衍) a doctrine.