How to Write 涪 (fú) — Meaning “Fu (name of a river and place)”

Imagine a person (立) standing by a river (氵) and opening a mouth (口) to say "Fu!" — that is the sound of the river. This combines the parts of 咅 with water to help you recall both the look and pronunciation of 涪.

Write the left water radical first (three strokes: dot, dot, lift), then the right part 咅. For 咅, write the 立 on top: first a dot, a horizontal stroke, then another dot and a left-falling stroke, then a vertical stroke; finish with the 口 at the bottom (vertical, horizontal fold, horizontal). A common mistake is making the 立 too wide — keep it narrow so the whole character stays balanced.

涪 has 咅 (立+口) on the right, while 洁 has 吉 (士+口) meaning "clean", and 洄 has 回 meaning "backflow". So 涪 is used only for a river name, 洁 means clean (e.g., 清洁), and 洄 describes water turning back.

涪 is not a common daily character — it appears only in place names like 涪陵 (Fuling, a district in Chongqing) and 涪江 (Fu River). Fuling is famous for its pickled vegetables (涪陵榨菜), so you might see this character on food packages or maps.

Common words containing 涪 include: 涪陵 (fú líng) — Fuling (a district in Chongqing); 涪江 (fú jiāng) — Fu River; 涪水 (fú shuǐ) — Fu River.