(bù) - cloth, fabric; to spread, to announce in Mandarin
bùTraditional: 布
Translation
cloth, fabric; to spread, to announce
Word origin
A phono-semantic character built on 巾 (jīn, cloth) with 父 (fù) supplying the sound.
- Origin
- phonetic
- Root
- 巾 (jīn, cloth) + 父 (fù, phonetic)
Stroke order
布
Examples
。
This piece of cloth is very soft.
帘。
I bought two metres of fabric to make curtains.
。
She wiped the table clean with a cloth.
。
This kind of fabric is not easy to wash.
。
The company announced the new plan yesterday.
布 (bù) is the everyday word for cloth or fabric, the material itself rather than a finished garment. It takes the measure word 块 (kuài) for a piece and 米 (mǐ) when you are buying it by the metre.
The same character carries a second, quite separate sense of spreading something out, which survives in compounds rather than on its own: 宣布 (xuānbù, to announce), 分布 (fēnbù, to be distributed), 公布 (gōngbù, to publish). Learners meet the fabric meaning first and are then surprised to see the character inside a news headline.
The trap for an English speaker is reaching for 布 when you mean clothes. Clothes are 衣服 (yīfu). 布 is what the clothes are made from.
Where this fits
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布: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "布" (cloth, fabric; to spread, to announce): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.
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Start your free weekThis word is part of lesson 41.