佛

Suggested translation: "Buddha"

Mandarin: fó

Middle Chinese: bɪuət

Originally, this was a transliteration of Skt. buddha, though the modern Mandarin pronunciation has changed since this equivalence was first coined. Since the Han dynasty, 佛 has meant "buddha" almost exclusively, though it seems to have originally meant something like "image." 仿佛 is a classical expression that preserves this reading, meaning "blurry," "unclear," or "closely resembling."

Note that this term can mean the Buddha (Gautama) or any buddha(s) in particular according to context.