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.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).

6 strokes

Components

  • radical left
  • meaning part right

Common words

  • 起伏 きふく undulation
  • 降伏 こうふく surrender; capitulation
  • 潜伏 せんぷく concealment; hiding
  • 伏線 ふくせん foreshadowing
  • 伏兵 ふくへい ambush; troops in ambush
  • 伏せる ふせる to lay (something) face down; to place upside down
  • 待ち伏せ まちぶせ ambush; lying in wait for an ambush

Reference

Strokes
6
Kangxi radical
9
Grade
Jōyō (secondary school)
Frequency rank
#1604 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 1
Unicode
U+04F0F