布 (bù): cloth; fabric

Measure Word

一块布 kuài

Meanings

1 cloth; fabric
2 to spread; to lay out
3 to announce; to declare

Characters

布

bù

cloth; to spread

Examples

这块布很软。

Zhè kuài bù hěn ruǎn.

This piece of cloth is very soft.

她用布擦桌子。

Tā yòng bù cā zhuōzi.

She wiped the table with a cloth.

老师在黑板上布置作业。

Lǎoshī zài hēibǎn shàng bùzhì zuòyè.

The teacher assigned homework on the blackboard.

Tips

usage

布 as a standalone noun means 'cloth/fabric.' In compounds it often means 'to spread/announce': 发布 (to publish), 宣布 (to announce), 分布 (to distribute).

culture

In rock-paper-scissors (石头剪刀布), 布 represents 'paper/cloth' — the one that wraps stone.

Components

radical

巾 jīn

cloth; towel

Bottom cloth-radical 巾 — the indexing radical. Pictures a piece of woven fabric hung to dry. Together with the hand above, the character pictures a hand spreading cloth, which yields both the noun 'fabric' and the verbal sense 'to spread out, to announce' (发布, 宣布).

phonetic

又 yòu

hand (graphic)

Top two strokes — historically a contracted form of 又 (a hand, as in 友 'friend'). Pictures the hand spreading the cloth out for hanging.