阜 (fù) · earthen mound; hill

Meanings

1 earthen mound; hill
2 abundant; plentiful

Characters

阜

fù

mound; abundant

Examples

HSK 7-9

如山如阜，如冈如陵。

Rú shān rú fù, rú gāng rú líng.

Like mountains, like mounds, like ridges, like hills.

HSK 7-9

曲阜是孔子的故乡。

Qū fù shì Kǒngzǐ de gùxiāng.

Qufu is Confucius's hometown.

Tips

history

阜 is an oracle-bone pictograph of stepped earth platforms - a stack of mounds carved into a hillside. Modern Chinese has retired it from everyday speech; it survives chiefly in place names (曲阜, Confucius's hometown) and as the left-side variant 阝 in characters tied to terrain and elevation.

memory

When you see 阝 on the LEFT of a character, that's 阜 (mound) - meaning hills, slopes, walls, defenses: 阳 (sun/yang side of a hill), 阴 (yin/shaded side), 院 (courtyard), 防 (defend, dam), 险 (steep/dangerous), 阶 (steps). Right-side 阝 is the unrelated 邑 radical.

Components

pictograph

阜 fù

earthen mound; hill

Originally drawn as a stack of terraced mounds - a sketch of the stepped earthen banks that lined ancient North China. 阜 is Kangxi radical 170; in compounds it contracts to 阝 on the left side (as in 陆, 阵, 院). Standalone it keeps the full eight-stroke silhouette and is not analysable into smaller parts.

Radical

Mound Kangxi #170

The mound/hill radical. A pictograph of stacked earthen platforms - terraced hillsides. Hugely productive in terrain, defense, and elevation vocabulary, almost always appearing as the left-side variant 阝: 阳, 阴, 院, 防, 险, 阶, 阻, 限. Visually identical to right-side 阝 (邑) but with a completely different etymology and meaning.