How to Write 拂 (fú) — Meaning “to brush away; to stroke lightly”

Imagine a hand (扌) gently flicking away a fly — the sound "fly" sounds like 弗 (fú). So you can think of "flicking a fly" to recall the meaning of brushing or stroking lightly.

Begin with the left radical 扌: three strokes (horizontal, vertical hook, lift). Then write the right part 弗: first the two short horizontals, then the long vertical through them, and finally the bottom horizontal. A common mistake is to write the long vertical before the top horizontals, which changes the stroke order.

Both 拂 and 托 share the hand radical, but 拂's right part 弗 has a crossing pattern, while 托 uses 乇 (a simpler shape meaning "entrust"). 㧜 is extremely rare and not used in modern Chinese. The key visual difference is the complex middle of 弗 versus the simple few strokes of 托.

You often encounter 拂 in literary or descriptive phrases like 拂晓 (dawn) and 拂面 (brushing the face). It is not an HSK word, so it appears more in poetry or elegant writing. For example, 春风拂面 means "the spring breeze gently strokes the face."

Common words containing 拂 include: 拂面 (fú miàn) — to brush against the face; 拂拭 (fú shì) — to dust; to wipe clean; 拂晓 (fú xiǎo) — dawn; daybreak.