How to Write 浦 (pǔ) — Meaning “riverside / shore”

Picture a garden (甫) next to a river (氵) — the water reaches the garden’s edge, forming a shore. You can also think of "Pudding" (starting with pu) floating on the river, waiting to be eaten on the riverside. This links the sound pǔ to the image of water and land meeting.

Write the left radical 氵 as three dots in a slight curve, narrow and compact. The right part 甫 starts with a horizontal stroke, then a vertical, then another horizontal, then a vertical with a hook, and finally a horizontal line—do not add a dot inside. Common mistakes include making the right side too wide or forgetting that 甫 has no extra stroke like a dot.

浦 uses 甫 (garden/beginning) on the right, while 沫 uses 末 (end/tip) and 沭 uses 术 (art/skill). Visually, 甫 has a flat top and a hook at the bottom, 末 has a longer vertical and no hook, and 术 has a dot above the vertical. Meaning-wise, 浦 is about riverbanks, 沫 means foam, and 沭 is a river name.

浦 appears almost exclusively in proper place names, especially in Shanghai’s Pudong (浦东) district and the Huangpu River (黄浦江). Pudong is a major financial hub, making 浦 a symbol of modern urban development. You will rarely see it in everyday conversation outside of these geographic references.

Common words containing 浦 include: 浦东 (pǔ dōng) — Pudong (a district in Shanghai); 黄浦江 (huáng pǔ jiāng) — Huangpu River; 浦口 (pǔ kǒu) — Pukou (a district in Nanjing).