What does 부부읍읍 (阜阝邑阝) mean?

 ANSWER: the "hill" (阜) 부 (阝) [or] the "town" (邑) 읍 (阝)

The Chinese character 阜 (부), by itself, means "hill" (언덕), but it is also used as a radical (부수 部首), which means it is used to form and index other characters with meanings that are somehow related to "a hill." But when it is used as a radical, it is written as 阝(부), as in the Chinese character 陵 (릉), which means "hill," "mound," or "tomb." In fact, it is more often used in its radical form than in its individual character form.

The Chinese character 邑 (읍) means "town," but it is also used as a radical, and its radical form is written as 阝(읍), the same form in which the radical for 阜 (부) is written. So if the radical forms of 阜 (부) and 邑 (읍) are both written as 阝, then how can you tell them apart?

Well, if 阝 is on the left side of a character, then it is the "hill" 阜 (부) radical, as in 陵 (릉), which means "hill," "mound," or "tomb," but if it is on the right side of the character, then it is the "town" 邑 (읍) radical, as in the character 都 (도), which means "capital city." 

But I still have one question: Why is 阝 written on the right side of the character 邱 (구) instead of on the left side, given that 邱 (구) means "hill" (언덕) or "mound"? Does anyone know the reason? Anyway, since the 阝 is written on the right side of 邱 (구), the character is listed under the "town" radical (邑 읍) instead of under the "hill" radical (阜 부), even though the character itself means "hill." That seems a little strange, doesn't it?

From Naver's online dictionary