HSK 5 · Function Words

仿佛 fǎngfú “as if” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 仿佛 means

  1. as if
  2. as though
  3. to seem
  4. seemingly
  5. alike
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • similar

How to say 仿佛

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale仿fǎng3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale佛fú2nd tone, rising

仿佛 in a sentence

  1. 那一刻，时间仿佛静止了。

    Nà yíkè, shíjiān fǎngfú jìngzhǐ le.

    At that moment, time seemed to stand still.

    Sentence #10269023 from Tatoeba

  2. 一年过去了，但仿佛我们昨天还见过面似的。

    Yì nián guòqù le, dàn fǎngfú wǒmen zuótiān hái jiànguo miàn shìde.

    A year has passed, but it feels as if we only saw each other yesterday.

    Sentence #7774762 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 他讲起那场事故，讲得仿佛他亲眼所见。

    Tā jiǎngqǐ nà chǎng shìgù, jiǎng de fǎngfú tā qīnyǎn suǒjiàn.

    He described the accident as if he had seen it with his own eyes.

    Sentence #2188517 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 仿佛 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 仿 (fǎng) with each of its parts in a different colour
仿fǎngto imitate
  • 亻person form of 人 · rénMeaning part
  • 方square · fāngSound part

亻 hints at the meaning (person); 方 (fāng) hints at the sound. Compare it with fǎng.

The character 佛 (fú) with each of its parts in a different colour
佛fúhead ornament
  • 亻person form of 人 · rénMeaning part
  • 弗not · fúSound part

亻 hints at the meaning (person); 弗 (fú) hints at the sound. Compare it with fú.

How to write 仿佛

仿 6 strokes · 佛 7 strokes

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

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

Words related to 仿佛

Words with 仿

模仿mófǎng · to imitate

More words: Function Words & Grammar

嗯ǹg · uh-huh反而fǎn'ér · on the contrary反复fǎnfù · repeatedly反正fǎnzhèng · anyway非fēi · to not be纷纷fēnfēn · one after another幅fú · measure word for paintings赶紧gǎnjǐn · hurriedly

FAQs

仿佛 (fǎngfú) means “as if” or “as though”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it fǎngfú: fǎng with a 3rd tone, then fú with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 仿佛 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type fangfu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 仿佛 from the suggestions. Typing fangfu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
仿佛 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.