福

• Providential favor: Grace or pleasure received from the divine or ancestral realm.
• Material and social prosperity: External desirable states; frequently appears in clusters with 祿 (salary/official rank) and 壽 (longevity).
• Dynamic fortune: In contrast with 禍 (calamity), it represents one pole of a cyclical process of gain and loss.

• Noun: The blessing itself or the state of being blessed.
• Verb: To bless or to bring fortune.

• 福 vs. 樂: 福 refers to an objective condition granted from outside (wealth, health, rank), whereas 樂 refers to a subjective internal experience of joy.
• 福 vs. 祥: 祥 typically refers to an auspicious omen or sign; 福 is the actualized presence of the blessing.

• Fanqie reading: 敷救 方六
• Tang-period reading: biuk

Combines 礻(divinity/altar) with 畐 (a wine jar, signifying abundance/fullness). This suggests that blessing is conceived as a concrete bestowal of favor or material sufficiency, often linked to ritual and divine or ancestral providence.