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铺

鋪
pù / pū
noun #4,969

Meanings

  1. 1 shop; store
  2. 2 plank bed; berth; bunk

Examples

街上有很多小铺子。
Jiē shàng yǒu hěn duō xiǎo pùzi.
There are many small shops on the street.
我买了一张上铺的火车票。
Wǒ mǎi le yī zhāng shàngpù de huǒchēpiào.
I bought a ticket for an upper berth on the train.
这家店铺开了三十年了。
Zhè jiā diànpù kāi le sānshí nián le.
This shop has been open for thirty years.

Tips

usage
pù covers two noun senses, both involving something flat and laid out. (1) Shop / store — 店铺, 商铺, 铺子, 当铺 (pawnshop), 杂货铺 (general store). (2) A bunk or berth (originally a plank bed): 上铺 / 下铺 upper / lower berth on a train sleeper, 卧铺 sleeper berth, 床铺 bed.
history
In old place names 铺 also marked a courier post-station — relay stations along the imperial road network where horses and messengers swapped over. That is why so many small Chinese settlements end in 铺: e.g. 五里铺 (Five-Li Station), 十里铺 (Ten-Li Station).
mistakes
If the word is about laying / paving / spreading something across a surface, read pū (see the pū entry). pù is the noun: the counter, the shop itself, the bunk you sleep on.

Components

radical
钅 jīn
metal; gold (left radical form)
Left metal radical (Kangxi #167 金 in its 5-stroke contracted form). The 'pave, spread out' sense likely comes from spreading metal sheets or paving stones; the 'shop' sense (the alt pù reading) extended from the metal-fitted counter laid out with goods. Same radical groups 钱, 银, 铁, 锅.
phonetic
甫 fǔ
just; only just; man's name suffix
Right phonetic 甫 — supplies the sound, drifting to pū / pù through historical labial shift. The same phonetic anchors 捕 (catch), 哺 (feed), 浦 (riverbank), 葡 (grape) — recognising 甫 unlocks all of them as a sound family.

Stroke Order

铺 pù