Shen Collection, Upper Volume
Radical: Grass (cǎo)
苻
Kangxi Strokes: 11
Page 1025, Entry 12
Pronounced fu.
Classic of Poetry (Erya), Chapter on Interpreting Grasses: Fu is the Ghost-eye grass. Note: Its stem resembles a kudzu vine, its leaves are round and hairy, and its fruit resembles ear pendants, appearing red and in clusters. People in the Jiangdong region call it Ghost-eye grass.
Also a surname. Book of Jin (Jinshu), Biography of Fu Hong: His ancestors were likely descendants of the Youhu clan. Initially, reeds grew in the family pond, reaching five zhang in height with five nodes, shaped like bamboo, so they adopted it as a surname. Later, because the prophetic texts contained the phrase "Grass and Fu correspond to the King," and his grandson Fu Jian had the characters "Grass" and "Fu" on his back, they changed the surname to the Fu clan and proclaimed themselves the Kings of the Three Qin.
Pronounced fu. Refers to the bursting and germination of the outer skin of plant seeds. Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji), Book of the Pitch Pipes: Jia means that all things break through the seed skin and sprout. Commentary (Suoyin): Fu jia is the same as the husks of seeds.
Pronounced pu. Zuo Zhuan (Zuozhuan), Year 21 of Duke Zhao: Zi Taishu of the State of Zheng mobilized infantry to attack the bandits in the Huanpu Marsh and killed them all.