腐 fǔ to spoil
to spoil; to rot; to decay
怎么记住“腐”: 府 prefect + 肉 meat = to spoil. The prefect forgets the gift box in his hot office all weekend, and the expensive meat inside begins to spoil.
部件结构
形声 · Meaning + sound
One part gives the meaning, the other gives the sound.
腐 = 府 prefect + 肉 meat
- 府 prefect sound
- 肉 meat meaning
The prefect forgets the gift box in his hot office all weekend, and the expensive meat inside begins to spoil.
How it came to be
The meat below gives the meaning and the part above the sound.
用法
- 腐 means to rot or decay, and is bound outside of a couple of fixed nouns.
- 豆腐 dòufu (tofu) is by far the most common everyday word containing it, though the 'rot' meaning is invisible there, just memorize it as the word for tofu.
- 腐败 fǔbài covers both literal decay and figurative corruption (政府腐败 government corruption): a common word in news Chinese.
- 腐烂 fǔlàn (to rot, of food or organic matter) and 腐蚀 fǔshí (to corrode, of metal or morals) are more literal/technical.