HSK 5 · Verbs

吐 tǔ “to spit (out)” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 吐 means

  1. to spit (out)
  2. to spit
  3. to send out (silk from a silkworm, bolls from cotton flowers etc)
  4. to say
  5. to pour out (one’s grievances)

How to say 吐

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale吐tǔ3rd tone, dipping

吐 in a sentence

  1. 他有个随地吐痰的习惯。

    Tā yǒu ge suídì tǔtán de xíguàn.

    He has a habit of spitting anywhere.

    Sentence #10086127 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 禁止吐痰。

    Jìnzhǐ tǔtán.

    No spitting.

    Sentence #11239888 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 吐 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 吐 (tǔ) with each of its parts in a different colour
吐tǔto spit
  • 口mouth · kǒuMeaning part
  • 土earth · tǔSound part

口 hints at the meaning (mouth); 土 (tǔ) hints at the sound. Compare it with tǔ.

How to write 吐

吐 6 strokes

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

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

Words related to 吐

Words with 吐

呕吐ǒutù · to vomit吞吞吐吐tūntūntǔtǔ · to hum and haw

More words: Common Verbs

体现tǐxiàn · to embody体验tǐyàn · to experience for oneself挑战tiǎozhàn · to challenge统一tǒngyī · to unify推广tuīguǎng · to promote退tuì · to move back退步tuìbù · to regress往返wǎngfǎn · to go back and forth

FAQs

吐 (tǔ) means “to spit (out)” or “to spit”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it tǔ: tǔ with a 3rd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 吐 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type tu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 吐 from the suggestions. Typing tu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
吐 is an HSK 5 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

A dictionary gives you the words. A native teacher shows you how to use them. Start with a free 30-minute intro call.

Book a free intro call

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.