逋

bū
verb #60,535

Meanings

  1. 1 (classical) to flee; to abscond
  2. 2 (classical) to owe; in arrears

Examples

HSK 7-9
Shīrén Lín Bū yǐnjū Gūshān, zhōngshēn bù qiú shìtú.
The poet Lin Bu lived in seclusion on Solitary Hill, never seeking office.

Tips

history
逋 'to flee / to owe' is not used independently in modern Chinese. It survives in bookish compounds like 逋逃 (to abscond) and 逋欠 (to be in arrears), and famously in the name of the recluse poet 林逋.
register
Archaic and literary only, found in old texts and etymology notes, not in everyday speech.

Components

radical
辶 chuò
walk; movement
辶 is the walking radical (the moving form of 辵), written last in stroke order. It carries the meaning: fleeing is moving away on foot.
phonetic
甫 fǔ
just now; a man's courtesy name
甫 supplies the sound, drifted to bū. The same phonetic appears in 捕 (to catch) and 哺 (to feed).

Stroke Order

逋 bū