How to Write 府 (fǔ) — Meaning “Government office; official residence; mansion”

Picture a grand building (广) with a person inside handing over papers (付, which contains 人 'person' and 寸 'hand'). Imagine a government official receiving documents — that's a 府, an office where things are given and processed.

Start with the 广 radical: write the dot first, then left-falling stroke, and finally the upper horizontal line. For the inner 付, ensure the left radical 亻 is narrow and vertical, while the right part 寸 has a balanced horizontal stroke and a clear dot. Common mistake is making the inner part too wide, which throws off the proportion.

府 uses the roof radical 广 with 付 inside, meaning official residence or government office, while 庄 uses 广 with 土 (earth) underneath, meaning farmstead or village. Visually, 府 has more strokes inside and a more complex structure, whereas 庄 is simpler with a 土 beneath the roof. The other similar character 㢆 is rare and not used in modern Chinese.

府 appears in common words like 政府 (government), 王府 (prince's mansion, often referring to historical imperial residences), and 学府 (institution of higher learning, like a university). Culturally, 府 historically referred to the administrative headquarters of a prefecture in imperial China, so it carries a sense of formality and authority.

Common words containing 府 include: 政府 (zhèng fǔ) — government; 王府 (wáng fǔ) — Prince's mansion; 学府 (xué fǔ) — Institution of higher learning.