p8nda
p8nda BETA
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抚

撫
fǔ
verb #17,383

Meanings

  1. 1 to stroke; to caress
  2. 2 to comfort; to console
  3. 3 provincial governor

Examples

HSK 3
妈妈轻轻地抚着孩子的头。
Māma qīngqīng de fǔ zhe háizi de tóu.
The mother gently stroked the child's head.
HSK 6
她抚着钢琴，陷入了回忆。
Tā fǔ zhe gāngqín, xiànrù le huíyì.
She ran her fingers over the piano and was lost in memories.

Tips

usage
抚 rarely stands alone in modern Chinese. It appears in compounds: 抚摸 (to stroke), 安抚 (to soothe), 抚养 (to raise/nurture), 抚恤 (to give a pension to bereaved families).

Components

radical
扌 shǒu
hand (radical form of 手)
Left hand radical - side-form of 手 (Kangxi #64). Indexes 抚 in the hand-action family. 抚 specifically marks gentle hand-actions: stroking, patting, soothing, comforting. Sister verbs: 摸 (touch), 拍 (pat), 揉 (rub), 按 (press). The radical announces 'this is something done with the hand' before you even read further.
phonetic
无 wú
without; none (here phonetic)
Right 无 supplies the sound (wú to fǔ, an Old-Chinese labial alternation). The simplified 抚 replaced the traditional 撫's right side (the phonetic 無) with the simpler 无 - but both spell the same sound. Pure phonetic role. From the literal hand-stroking meaning came the wider senses 'pacify, comfort, take care of': 安抚 (appease), 抚养 (raise), 抚琴 (play zither - the stroking of strings).

Stroke Order

抚 fǔ