Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced pu
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced pu, including 普 pǔ, 扑 pū, 堡 bǎo / pù, 铺 pū / pù, 仆 pū / pú. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…
How to Pronounce This Syllable
To say pu, release air on the aspirated p, glide into u, and ride the tone — keep it joined as one sound.
Initial p
Start the syllable on the initial p, 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 (普 pǔ, 扑 pū, 堡 bǎo / pù, 铺 pū / pù, 仆 pū / pú) and lock in their tones. 11 common characters share the sound pu, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
pu turns up here with 3 different tones; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.
1st tone
Taking the 1st tone here: 扑, 铺, 仆 (3 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
2nd tone
Taking the 2nd tone here: 葡, 菩, 蒲 (3 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
3rd tone
Taking the 3rd tone here: 普, 堡, 朴… (5 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing pu inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
11 common characters in this group.