How to Write 佛 (fó/fú) — Meaning “Buddha”

Picture a person (亻) standing next to a bow (弓) with two arrows going through it — the right side 弗 looks a bit like that, reminding you of a peaceful Buddha. Or imagine the two vertical strokes in 弗 as the Buddha’s eyes, with the sweeping diagonal as his smile.

Start by writing the left radical 亻 narrow and straight, then move to the right part 弗. The right side's stroke order is: horizontal line, then left vertical, right vertical, long diagonal bend to the left, and finally short diagonal to the right. A common mistake is making the right part too wide or forgetting the short diagonal stroke.

The key difference is the right component: 仔 has 子 (child) and means "young" or "son", while 仕 has 士 (scholar/official) and means "to serve" or "official". 佛 uses 弗 and refers specifically to Buddha or Buddhism, so the meaning and usage are completely different from the other two.

佛 appears in common words like 佛教 (Buddhism) and 佛像 (Buddha statue), as well as the literary term 仿佛 (as if/seemingly). Culturally, 佛 is a revered symbol in China, and you will often see 佛 statues in temples and homes as a sign of peace and enlightenment.

Common words containing 佛 include: 佛教 (fó jiào) — Buddhism; 佛像 (fó xiàng) — Buddhist statue; 仿佛 (fǎng fú) — as if / seemingly.