布 bù cotton
cotton; linen; textiles; to announce; to declare; to spread
How it came to be
A hand laid over a strip of woven cotton hanging from a belt. The hand spreads it out, so the character means both a piece of cotton and spreading something out.
How it is used
- 布 has two separate lives: as a noun it's cloth/fabric (一块布 yí kuài bù - a piece of cloth); as a bound verb root it means to announce or spread, seen in 公布 (gōngbù) to make public, 宣布 (xuānbù) to declare, 发布 (fābù) to release/publish.
- 公司宣布了新产品 (gōngsī xuānbùle xīn chǎnpǐn) - the company announced a new product - this cluster of verbs is common in news writing.
- 布置 (bùzhì) means to arrange/decorate a space (布置房间 - decorate the room) or to assign homework (布置作业) - don't confuse with 安排 (ānpái), which is scheduling events/plans rather than physically arranging things.