ZHIZHI 知止 · LEARN CHINESE DAILY

husband; man

4 strokes · 大 (adult) + 一 — a hairpin through a grown man's topknot · HSK 2

Where 夫 comes from

夫 is 大 — a standing adult — with a stroke through the head: the hairpin. At twenty, a man's hair was bound with a pin in the capping ceremony. The pin made the man; 夫 is adulthood you can see.

夫 in Chinese culture

丈夫 husband, 夫妻 married couple, 大夫 (dàifu) — doctor, from an old court title. 功夫 kung fu is 'time and skill invested': in Chinese, mastery of anything is 功夫, and 下功夫 means putting in the hours.

Example

丈夫 zhàngfu — husband

她的丈夫很高。
Tā de zhàngfu hěn gāo.
Her husband is very tall.

How to remember it

An adult 大 with a hairpin — capped, grown, a MAN, a HUSBAND.

大夫 read dàifu means doctor; read dàfū it's an ancient minister. Getting the tone wrong sends your physician to the Zhou-dynasty court.

Same sound, different tones

1st fū
husband; man
2nd fú
clothes
3rd fǔ
mansion
4th fù
father

Words unlocked by 夫

丈夫 zhàngfu
husband
夫妻 fūqī
married couple
功夫 gōngfu
kung fu; skill

Related characters

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