HSK 5 · Food

豆腐 dòufu “tofu” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 豆腐 means

  1. tofu
  2. bean curd

How to say 豆腐

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale豆dòu4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own腐funeutral tone, light and short

Grey pinyin is a neutral tone: say it short and light. More on the neutral tone

豆腐 in a sentence

  1. 噢，我忘记买豆腐了。

    Ō, wǒ wàngjì mǎi dòufu le.

    Oh, I forgot to buy tofu.

    Sentence #3658533 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我要麻婆豆腐，还有两碗米饭。

    Wǒ yào mápó dòufu, hái yǒu liǎng wǎn mǐfàn.

    I’d like mapo tofu and two bowls of rice.

    Sentence #1176034 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 心急吃不了热豆腐。

    Xīnjí chī bu liǎo rè dòufu.

    If you’re impatient, you can’t eat hot tofu (good things take time).

    Sentence #13906971 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 豆腐 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 豆 (dòu) with each of its parts in a different colour
豆dòulegume; pulse; bean; pea 颗,粒)
  • 一one · yī
  • 口mouth · kǒu
  • 丷eight form of 八 · bā
  • 一one · yī
The character 腐 (fǔ) with each of its parts in a different colour
腐fǔdecaylight in 豆腐
  • 广shelter · guǎng
  • 付give · fùSound part
  • 肉meat · ròuMeaning part

肉 hints at the meaning (meat); 付 (fù) hints at the sound. Compare it with fu.

How to write 豆腐

豆 7 strokes · 腐 14 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

豆腐 (dòufu) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 豆腐 (dòufu). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 豆腐

Words with 豆

土豆tǔdòu · potato

Words with 腐

腐朽fǔxiǔ · rotten腐败fǔbài · corrupt腐蚀fǔshí · to corrode腐烂fǔlàn · to rot

More words: Food & Dining

叉子chāzi · fork炒chǎo · to sauté醋cù · vinegar点心diǎnxin · light refreshments锅guō · pot果实guǒshí · fruit (of a plant)海鲜hǎixiān · seafood壶hú · pot

FAQs

豆腐 (dòufu) means “tofu” or “bean curd”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it dòufu: dòu with a 4th tone, then fu with a neutral tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 豆腐 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type doufu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 豆腐 from the suggestions. Typing doufu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
豆腐 is an HSK 5 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.