How to Write 福 (fú) — Meaning “Blessing; good fortune; happiness.”

Imagine a small altar (礻) holding a full wine jar (畐) — the jar has a wide body and a narrow top. The radical has two small dots like incense sticks, and the right side looks like a bottle with a lid.

Write the radical 礻 first: dot, horizontal left-falling, vertical, then a small dot. Then write the right part 畐: start with a horizontal, then vertical, then two horizontals, a vertical folding left, and a final horizontal. A common mistake is making the right part too narrow or confusing the radical's two dots.

福 (fú, blessing) has 畐 (a full jar) on the right, while 祷 (dǎo, pray) has 寿 (longevity) and 祸 (huò, disaster) has 呙 (crooked mouth). The meaning is opposite: 福 is good fortune, 祸 is misfortune. Visually, 福's right side is fuller and more symmetrical.

福 appears frequently during Chinese New Year, often pasted upside-down on doors to mean 'fortune has arrived.' It is also used in common words like 幸福 (xìngfú, happiness) and 祝福 (zhùfú, to bless). It carries a strong positive cultural meaning of luck and joy.

Common words containing 福 include: 幸福 (xìng fú) — Happiness; 祝福 (zhù fú) — Blessing; to bless; 福气 (fú qì) — Good fortune; luck..