多福 (duō fú) — many blessings; great fortune | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A fixed auspicious phrase, most often seen in greetings like 多福多寿 (“many blessings, long life”) or on Lunar New Year cards. Treat it as a single blessing, not two separate words.

noun

many blessingsgreat fortune

Examples

多福，。
Zhù nín duō fú duō shòu, wàn shì rú yì.
Wish you many blessings and long life, and all the best.
多福。
Tā gěi zì jǐ qǐ le gè bǐ míng jiào duō fú.
He gave himself a pen name called Duofu.
“多福”。
Xīn nián hè kǎ shàng xiě zhe "duō fú" liǎng gè zì.
The new year card has the words 'Duofu' written on it.

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.

福fúblessing

多 means many and 福 means blessings, together giving abundant good fortune.

Characters in this word

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

多 originally showed two pieces of meat placed together; the repeated meat shape gives the sense of many.

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

Sound part声符shēngfú

畐

畐fú福fú

Same sound today

福 combines 示 and 畐, with 示 carrying the meaning and 畐 the sound.

Appears in

Abstract Concepts

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