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吐

tǔ / tù
verb HSK 5 #1,458

Meanings

  1. 1 to spit
  2. 2 to send out (silk, cotton bolls)
  3. 3 to say; to utter
  4. 4 to pour out (grievances)

Examples

不要随地吐痰。
Búyào suídì tǔ tán.
Don't spit on the ground.
蚕吐丝做茧。
Cán tǔ sī zuò jiǎn.
Silkworms spin silk to make cocoons.
他终于吐露了真情。
Tā zhōngyú tǔlù le zhēnqíng.
He finally poured out his true feelings.

Tips

grammar
Two readings split by meaning. 吐 (3rd tone) = controlled sending-out: spitting, silkworms spinning silk, speaking, pouring out grievances. 吐 (4th tone) = involuntary vomiting. If it's deliberate, use tǔ; if your body did it without permission, use tù.
culture
随地吐痰 (spitting on the ground) has been a target of public hygiene campaigns for decades. Signs reading 禁止随地吐痰 are common in stations and parks.

Components

radical
口 kǒu
mouth
Left mouth radical - marks 吐 as a mouth-action, the canonical exit route. Same family as 吃 (eat), 喝 (drink), 唱 (sing). Here the mouth does the opposite of eating - sending material out instead of in.
phonetic
土 tǔ
earth; soil (here phonetic)
Right 土 supplies the sound (tǔ, exact match including tone). Same phonetic series as 杜, 肚. A faint scenic hook sticks too - spit lands on 土 - but the role is purely sonic. Pure phono-semantic compound.

Stroke Order

吐 tǔ