HSK 6 · Adjectives

腐朽 fǔxiǔ “rotten” in Chinese

Said as fúxiǔ

Same in Traditional

What 腐朽 means

  1. rotten
  2. decayed
  3. decadent
  4. degenerate

How to say 腐朽

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale腐fǔ3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale朽xiǔ3rd tone, dipping

Said as fúxiǔ. When two third tones meet, the first one rises into a second tone. You still write it with two third tones. How tone changes work

腐朽 in a sentence

  1. 这根木头已经腐朽了。

    Zhè gēn mùtou yǐjīng fǔxiǔ le.

    This piece of wood has rotted.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 那座老房子的木门都腐朽了。

    Nà zuò lǎo fángzi de mùmén dōu fǔxiǔ le.

    The wooden doors of that old house have all rotted.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 腐朽 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 腐 (fǔ) with each of its parts in a different colour
腐fǔdecay
  • 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 fǔ.

The character 朽 (xiǔ) with each of its parts in a different colour
朽xiǔrotten
  • 木tree · mù
  • 丂part of the character

How to write 腐朽

腐 14 strokes · 朽 6 strokes

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

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

Words related to 腐朽

Words with 腐

豆腐dòufu · tofu腐败fǔbài · corrupt腐蚀fǔshí · to corrode腐烂fǔlàn · to rot

More words: Adjectives

锋利fēnglì · sharp (blade)风趣fēngqù · witty分明fēnmíng · clear粉色fěnsè · pink高超gāochāo · superb高明gāomíng · brilliant高尚gāoshàng · noble根深蒂固gēnshēndìgù · deep-rooted

FAQs

腐朽 (fǔxiǔ) means “rotten” or “decayed”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it fǔxiǔ: fǔ with a 3rd tone, then xiǔ with a 3rd tone. In speech it sounds like fúxiǔ. When two third tones meet, the first one rises into a second tone. You still write it with two third tones. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 腐朽 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type fuxiu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 腐朽 from the suggestions. Typing fuxiu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
腐朽 is an HSK 6 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 written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.