福

fú
noun HSK 5 #3,644

Meanings

  1. 1 good fortune; happiness
  2. 2 luck; blessing

Characters

Contains 礻 (spirit/altar radical) + 畐 (full wine vessel) - blessings from the spirits filling your life.

Examples

HSK 4
Zhù nǐ xìngfú!
Wish you happiness!
HSK 4
Tā zhēn shì yǒu fúqi.
He really is fortunate.
HSK 5
Fú zì yào dào zhe tiē.
The character 福 should be pasted upside down.

Tips

culture
During Chinese New Year, people paste 福 upside down on their doors. 'Upside down' (倒) sounds like 'arrive' (到), so it means 'fortune has arrived.'
culture
福禄寿 - fortune, prosperity, longevity - are the three celestial blessings in Chinese culture.

Components

radical
礻 shì
altar; ritual (radical form)
Left altar radical (the side-form of 示), picturing the stone tablet of an ancestral altar. Marks 福 as a ritual/divine-blessing character: good fortune comes through the altar from gods and ancestors. Same radical anchors 神 (deity), 祖 (ancestor), 礼 (rites), 祝 (pray).
phonetic
畐 fú
full wine vessel
Right-side 畐 supplies the sound (matches parent fú exactly) and a strong semantic. Standalone 畐 pictures a brimming wine jar - abundance. So 福 reads 'altar plus full vessel': blessing flows from offering a full jar to the gods. Same phonetic: 富 (rich), 副 (deputy), 幅 (width).

Stroke Order

福 fú