Pinyin Syllable

Chinese characters pronounced bu

Learn common Chinese characters pronounced bu, including 不 bù / bú, 部 bù, 步 bù, 布 bù, 补 bǔ. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…

How to Pronounce This Syllable

For bu, start on b and let it run into u without pausing; keep the mouth moving and hold the tone to the end.

Initial b

Start the syllable on the initial b, then run straight into the final u — keep them joined instead of sounding out separate English letters.

Final u

Keep the lips rounded.

Study Tip

Start with the most common characters (不 bù / bú, 部 bù, 步 bù, 布 bù, 补 bǔ) and lock in their tones. 8 common characters share the sound bu, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.

Learn by Tone

bu turns up here with 3 different tones; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.

3rd tone

Taking the 3rd tone here: 补, 捕 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.

补bǔto repair; to patch; to mend; to make up for; to fill (a vacancy); to supplement 捕bǔto catch; to seize; to capture; to catch

4th tone

Taking the 4th tone here: 不, 部, 步… (5 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.

不bù / bú(negative prefix); not; no 部bùministry; department; section; part; division; troops 步bùa step; a pace; walk; march; stages in a process 布bùdiffuse; extend; notify; to declare; to announce; to spread 怖bùterror; terrified; afraid; frightened

5

Taking the 5 here: 卜 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.

卜bo / bǔturnip; to divine; foretell

Common Words With This Sound

Seeing bu inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.

不要bù yàodon't!; must not 不用bù yòngneed not 对不起duì bu qǐI'm sorry; excuse me; I beg your pardon; to let (sb) down 部分bù fenpart; portion; piece; Taiwan pr.全部quán bùwhole; all 大部分dà bù fenthe greater part; the majority; most; Taiwan pr.跑步pǎo bùto run; to jog; (military) to march at the double 进一步jìn yī bùto go a step further; (develop, understand, improve etc) more; further 进步jìn bùprogress; improvement; to improve; to progress 宣布xuān bùto declare; to announce; to proclaim

Characters

8 common characters in this group.

Character#1 不 bù / bú(negative prefix); not; noTraditional: 不 Character#2 部 bùministry; department; section; part; division; troopsTraditional: 部 Character#3 步 bùa step; a pace; walk; march; stages in a processTraditional: 步 Character#4 布 bùdiffuse; extend; notify; to declare; to announce; to spreadTraditional: 佈 Character#5 补 bǔto repair; to patch; to mend; to make up for; to fill (a vacancy); to supplementTraditional: 補 Character#6 捕 bǔto catch; to seize; to capture; to catchTraditional: 捕 Character#7 怖 bùterror; terrified; afraid; frightenedTraditional: 怖 Character#8 卜 bo / bǔturnip; to divine; foretellTraditional: 卜