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發福

简发福 · 繁發福

Mandarin · pinyin fā fú

to put on weight
to get fat (a sign of prosperity, so a compliment)

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Characters in this entry

發: fā · issue, dispatch, send out, emit
福: fú · happiness, good fortune, blessing
发: fā · issue, dispatch, send out; hair

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–2 · fa1 fu2

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

發福 · find source passages ↗ · 发福 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

faat3 fuk1

Cantonese word readings for 發福. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

verb

(euphemistic, usually said of older people) to put on weight; to grow stout

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack