俯卧 (fǔ wò) — to lie face down; to lie prostrate

Definition

俯卧 (fǔ wò) means lying face down, on one's front — the position itself, not an exercise. In contrast, 卧 alone simply means to lie down and doesn't specify the body orientation.

verb
to lie face downto lie prostrate

Examples

  • 俯卧。
    Tā xǐ huan fǔ wò zài chuáng shàng kàn shǒu jī.
    He likes to lie face down on the bed and look at his phone.
  • 俯卧，。
    Yī shēng ràng tā fǔ wò, rán hòu jiǎn chá tā de bèi bù.
    The doctor asked him to lie face down, then examined his back.
  • 俯卧。
    Shì bīng men zài xùn liàn zhōng bì xū fǔ wò bú dòng.
    The soldiers must lie prostrate and motionless during training.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

俯fǔface down
卧wòlie

'俯' means face down and '卧' means to lie, so it describes lying face down.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
勹勹bāoperson bending over
Sound part声符shēngfú
府
府fǔ俯fǔ
Same sound today

俯 uses 府 to show the sound fǔ and 勹 to show a person bending over; the modern left side comes from 勹.

Open 俯 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 臥; 卧 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 臥 pairs 臣 (an eye pointing down) with 人 (a person).

Open 卧 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.