Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Textiles, Plants & Food

布: linen, cloth

Also: spread, distribute

JLPT N25 strokesGrade 5Your ink: 白 Not met

巾 carries the meaning · 父 gives the sound

5 strokes

Two readings, and the words that use each

フfu · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 布団ふとんbedding, futon
  • 毛布もうふblanket
  • 財布さいふpurse, wallet
  • 湿布しっぷcompress, poultice
  • 布告するふこくするproclaim, declare
  • 布教するふきょうするpropagate (a religion)
  • 配布するはいふするdistribute [v.t.]
  • 流布するるふするcirculate, spread (a rumor) [v.i.]
  • 分布するぶんぷするdistribute [v.i.]

ぬのnuno · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 布ぬのcloth
  • 布地ぬのじcloth, fabric

Also read ホ, しく, きれ, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
Print sheet Present
成り立ち

Where it comes from

Origin · sourced

Phono-semantic compound (形聲)父 (sound) + 巾 kerchief (meaning)

Source: Wiktionary, 布 (rev. 93448351), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Hand (ナ) + cloth (巾). A hand "spreading" out a piece of "cloth" to show its quality or to lay it out for use, eventually meaning to "spread" a message.”
From the 巾 cloth story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
父

Also built on father (父)

All 2

布 takes the 父 family's reading, フ (fu).

巾

Also built on cloth (巾)

All 15

布 gives its sound to

The family reading is フ (fu). Sound parts: KanjiVG.

Also read フ

28 kanji share this on'yomiAll 28

Also read ホ

13 kanji share this on'yomiAll 13

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
布 linen · 父
vs市 market · 亠
布 has 父 where 市 has 亠.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · bù

Same form: 布 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).

Simplified
布 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
布 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin bù most common reading

Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.

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