匍匐 (pú fú) — to crawl on the ground (on hands and knees or prostrate); to creep

Definition

A literary/written verb for crawling or creeping close to the ground — used for soldiers, animals, or plant stems, not everyday walking. Often appears in set phrases like 匍匐前进.

verb
to crawl on the ground (on hands and knees or prostrate)to creep

Examples

  • 匍匐。
    Tā zài dì miàn shàng pú fú qián jìn.
    He crawled forward on the ground.
  • 匍匐。
    Zhàn shì men pú fú chuān guò cǎo dì.
    The soldiers crawled across the grassland.
  • 匍匐。
    Zhè zhǒng zhí wù de pú fú jīng shēng zhǎng hěn kuài.
    This plant's creeping stems grow very fast.

Origin

Single-morpheme word
构词法gòucífǎ
联绵liánmiánBound pair

Two characters that only ever appear together, spelling one ancient two-syllable word.

匍pú
匐fú

The characters 匍 and 匐 carry no meaning of their own here; only together do they mean crawling or creeping.

Sound-only characters

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bāo
Sound part声符shēngfú
甫
甫fǔ匍
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

匍 is made of 勹 and 甫: 甫 provides the sound, while 勹 is the part connected to its meaning.

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

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