菩

Top grass radical (Kangxi #140 in compressed 3-stroke form). The original 菩 named a kind of grass (菩草), and the radical reflects that botanical root. The character later took on its overwhelmingly more famous role as the first syllable of 菩萨 (púsà, bodhisattva) — a Buddhist transliteration where the grass meaning faded but the radical stuck.

Bottom 咅 supplies the sound: pǒu → pú with the regular tone shift. Same phonetic powers 倍 double, 培 cultivate, 部 section, 陪 accompany, 赔 compensate. Pure phonetic role here; the original 'spitting' meaning of 咅 has no part in 菩's modern Buddhist sense. Knowing the 咅 phonetic series unlocks half a dozen common characters from one shared right-side shape.