FU-4

('fu' in the fourth tone)

There are some 121 standard Chinese characters that can be spoken 'fu' (many characters can be spoken in different ways, and then have different meanings). The major sound-indicating components in the more complicated characters spoken as 'fu' are: 夫 (9 cases), 付 (13)

That many of the roughly 400 morphemes that make up the Chinese language can have meanings that are opposite to each other is well illustrates with the morpheme 'fu', which, depending on its pronunciation can mean 'father' (fourth tone), 'wife' (fourth tone), and 'husband' (first tone).

父 = father

For clarity, the two-character term is more commonly used:

父亲 = fu(4)qin(1) = father

亲 = qin(1) = a relative, specifically a blood relative

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妇 = married woman

妇科 = fu(4)ke(1) = gynaecology

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付 = to pay

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富 = rich

富翁 = fu(4)weng(1) = rich man

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复 =  repeat, replicate (duplicate), resume (and many other meanings that correspond to English words that start with the Latin prefix 're-')

回复 = hui(2)fu(4) = to reply (the email 'Reply' button in the Chinese Yahoo Mail, and other Chinese email programs uses 回复 as inscription), Re: (this two-character combination also appears as the equivalent of the English 'Re:' in the subject lines of email replies you are getting, even though the English version stands for 'Regarding:' rather than 'Reply')

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The Windows operating system uses the two-character term for the 'copy' (which is but another word for 'replicate') command:

复制 = fu(4)zhi(4) = to copy