How to Write 讣 (fù) — Meaning “obituary; to announce a death”

Imagine that the left side 讠 is a speech bubble, and the right side 卜 looks like a small cross or tombstone marker. So you can think of 讣 as "a speech bubble next to a tombstone" — words said when someone has died, or an obituary notice.

The stroke order is: dot (丶), horizontal-turning stroke (㇊), vertical (丨), and dot (丶). A common mistake is to make the right component 卜 too wide or to write the final dot too far away — keep it close and centered below the vertical line to maintain balance.

Both have the radical 讠, but 讣 has 卜 on the right, meaning "to announce a death," while 计 has 十 on the right and means "to calculate" or "plan." Visually, 讣 uses a simple vertical line with a dot (卜), whereas 计 uses a horizontal-vertical cross (十). Their meanings and tones (fù vs. jì) are completely different.

讣 appears mainly in formal written contexts such as obituaries in newspapers or funeral announcements, usually as part of compounds like 讣告 or 讣闻. It is not a common spoken character, and you will rarely need to write it unless you are dealing with death notices or traditional memorial texts.

Common words containing 讣 include: 讣告 (fù gào) — obituary notice; 讣闻 (fù wén) — obituary notice; 讣文 (fù wén) — obituary text.