Example sentences
tā她de的zhàng丈fū夫shì是yī医shēng生。
Her husband is a doctor.
wǒ我zhàng丈fū夫hěn很xǐ喜huan欢yùn运dòng动。
My husband likes sports.
About this word
丈 was a measure of ten chi, the length of a measuring rod, and from the rod it came to mean a grown man. 夫 is also a man, drawn as an adult with a hairpin through his hair. So 丈夫 is man plus man, an adult male, and the meaning narrowed to the one adult male a woman is married to. The 夫 goes neutral tone, zhàngfu. 大丈夫, tone restored, means a real man, someone with standing and nerve.
The story behind the character
丈
丈 is 又 (a hand) gripping 十. Xu Shen wrote 丈，十尺也, ten chi, the length of a measuring rod. A hand closed around a ten-foot stick is a picture of measurement. That's why 丈夫, husband, reads literally as a ten-foot man: the old reckoning was that a grown man stood about one 丈 tall.
夫
夫 is 大, a person standing with arms spread, plus one stroke laid across the top of the head. That stroke is a hairpin. A boy wore his hair loose and a grown man pinned it up, so a single horizontal line through the crown is the whole difference. Xu Shen wrote 夫，丈夫也, a grown man. 丈夫 keeps the hairpin.