Meaning & readings
prostrated, bend down, bow, cover, lay (pipes)
On’yomi フク
Kun’yomi ふ.せる、ふ.す
Nanori ふし、ふせ
Origin
This character shows a person bending or crouching down next to a dog, which captures the idea of lowering yourself or prostrating yourself. The left component is a person, and the right component is a dog — together they depict the posture of someone bent over or lying flat, as if bowing respectfully or hiding. The compound suggests physical lowering or covering, which extends to meanings like laying something flat, covering it, or keeping it concealed.
Components
- 亻
- 犬
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 6
- Kangxi radical
- 9
- Formation type
- Compound ideographic (combined meanings)
- Grade
- Jōyō (secondary school)
- Frequency rank
- #1604 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 1
- Unicode
- U+04F0F