How to write 夫 (fū, “husband”)
夫, an HSK 2 character, is read fū for “husband” and “man”, and also fú (“this, that”). It is HSK 2 in the 2025 syllabus, down from level 3 in the 2021 standard. As an overlapping character it splits into 一 (“one”), stroke 1; 大 (“big”, the radical), strokes 2–4, written the first part first. Its 4 strokes put it among the simplest at HSK 2. Among the HSK words it appears in 丈夫 (“husband”), 夫妻 (“husband and wife”) and 大夫 (“doctor”). Japanese reads it fu, “husband”, as a JLPT N3 kanji.
- Pinyin
- fū, fú
- Strokes
- 4
- HSK
- 2
- Radical
- 大 (“big”)
Stroke by stroke
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- Horizontal ㇐top leftrightwards
- Horizontal ㇐leftrightwards
- Left-falling stroke ㇒topdownwards → down and left
- Right-falling stroke ㇏centerdown and right → rightwards
Japanese and Chinese
Japanese and Chinese draw all 4 strokes in the same order and direction, by our stroke-by-stroke comparison.
Trace it
Follow the numbers. Tracing help
Pinyin and meaning
| Pinyin | Meanings | Traditional | In words |
|---|---|---|---|
| fū first tone | husband; man; manual worker; conscripted laborer (old) | — | 夫妻 夫妇 夫人 人夫 |
| fú second tone | (classical) this, that; he, she, they; (exclamatory final particle); (initial particle, introduces an opinion) | — | — |
- HSK 2025 syllabus
- level 2
- 2021 standard
- level 3
- HSK 2.0
- in a level 2 word
- Words with it
- 112 in CC-CEDICT
Words with 夫
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 丈夫 | zhàngfu | husband HSK 2 |
| 夫妻 | fūqī | husband and wife; married couple HSK 3 |
| 大夫 | dàifu | doctor; physician HSK 4 |
| 功夫 | gōngfu | skill; art HSK 4 |
| 夫妇 夫婦 | fūfù | a (married) couple; husband and wife HSK 5 |
| 夫人 | fūrén | lady; madam HSK 6 |
| 工夫 | gōngfu | period of time (may be months, or mere seconds); spare time HSK 6 |
| 人夫 | rénfū | married man; husband |
| 前夫 | qiánfū | former husband |
| 千夫 | qiānfū | a lot of people (literary) |
HSK words first (CC-CEDICT).
Practice sheet
Print at 100%. Several characters: worksheet maker.
Keep going
HSK 2, in list order: