敷
fū · HSK 7
to spread
🧴 敷 = 甫 (fū, phonetic) + 攵 (action) — apply by hand
The right side 攵 marks an action done with the hand, and 甫 gives the sound fū. Common in 敷面膜 (apply a face mask) and 敷药 (apply medicine) — always about spreading something thin across a surface.
敷 — 尃 (fū, phonetic) + 攵 (action)
敷 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The right side 攵 (a hand holding a stick) suggests an action, while 尃 supplies the sound and the idea of spreading or distributing. The original sense was to spread out or apply broadly, which extends to modern meanings like 'to apply' (ointment) or 'to lay out'.