服

🇹🇼🇭🇰🇨🇳🇯🇵🇰🇷

apparel

HSK 6 N3

fú

フク

복

Combination of 凡 (plate) and subdue (𠬝). Based on the original meaning "serve" or "submit". 凡 alludes to serving a plate.

Components

凡 ordinary+ 𠬝 submit =

服 apparel

凡 Meaning component

fán ordinary

variant of 凡[fán]

Depicts a plate.

𠬝 Meaning component

fú submit

subdue

Depicts a kneeling person being subdued.

View phonetic series →

Notes

Similar Characters

凤 phoenix (simp)帆 sail 梵 Buddhist 矾 alum (simp)般 sort 釩 vanadium (trad)钒 vanadium (iii) (simp)風 wind (trad/jp)风 breeze (simp)鳳 male phoenix (trad)同 same 旁 side 歬 go forward 佩 wear at the waist 報 newspaper (trad/jp)报 report (simp)

Historical Evolution

Oracle

(~1250-1000 BC)

Bronze

Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)

Seal

Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal

Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical

Qin dynasty (221-206 BC)

Clerical

Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Clerical

Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Clerical

Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Seal

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

服

Regular

Modern

Chinese

服 [fú]

clothes; dress; garment; to serve (in the military, a prison sentence etc); to obey; to be convinced (by an argument); to convince; to admire; to acclimatize; to take (medicine); mourning clothes; to wear mourning clothes

服 [fù]

classifier for medicine: dose; Taiwan pr. [fú]

Japanese

服ふく同音

nounn-suf clothes (esp. Western clothes); clothing; dress; costume; suit; outfit
counter counter for doses of medicine, gulps of tea, puffs of a cigarette, etc.