Writing Balance Rule: The left side (hand radical) should be compact and slightly narrower, leaving ample breathing room for the right phonetic component to maintain structural harmony.
Māo zhuā lǎoshǔ shì yīzhǒng tiānshēng de bǔliè xíngwéi.
Cats catching mice is an instinctive hunting behavior.
2. Sound
/[pu²¹⁴]/Tone: 214
捕
bǔbu3
|
++
ˇ(214)
=bǔ
Initial Consonant
b
Type: Unaspirated Bilabial
Sounds like: b sound like English b in 'bat' but unaspirated
Unaspirated
Airflow Tactile Test: No burst of air. A tissue in front of lips should stay still.
Tongue & Mouth Position: Both lips pressed together, then released gently without a heavy puff of air.
Final Rhyme
u
Vowel Group: -u vowel group
Sounds like: oo sound as in 'boot'
Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'oo'.
Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.
Tone
T3 (214)
2 → 1 → 4 (214)
3rd Tone (Low-Dipping)
Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 3 dips low in pitch, much like expressing skeptical disbelief in English ('Really?').
Sandhi: When followed by another 3rd tone syllable, bǔ changes to a 2nd tone (rising 35) according to standard Mandarin tone sandhi rules.
👂
Listening trap: Do not confuse the unvoiced unaspirated 'b' with the English voiced 'b'; Mandarin 'b' sounds closer to an unaspirated 'p'.
👋
Physical Tone Gesture: Trace a checkmark in the air: dip down from mid-level to low, then sweep back up high.
3. Writing
Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 10 strokes
Writing Balance Rule: The left side (hand radical) should be compact and slightly narrower, leaving ample breathing room for the right phonetic component to maintain structural harmony.
4. Components
Radical扌 · Hand Radical (hands, physical action, manipulation)
Semantic Clue (形旁):扌 (indicates an action performed with the hand or physical force)
Phonetic Clue (声旁):甫 (original sound: bǔ)
A hand (扌) reaches out to grab and manage (甫) something, capturing it firmly.
扌 Hand radical indicating grasping action
甫 Phonetic component providing the sound 'bǔ'
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
21· Phonetic Root: 甫 (fǔ)
5. History
Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)
Origin: Combined from the hand radical (扌) for physical action and 甫 (fǔ/bǔ) as the phonetic indicator, originally depicting the act of capturing or seizing with one's hands.
Semantic Evolution: From a concrete physical action of grabbing prey or criminals, it evolved to abstract legal capture, arresting, and capturing data or signals in modern terms.
In ancient texts, it frequently appeared in contexts involving hunting wild animals or arresting lawbreakers.
6. Sinosphere
🇯🇵
Kanji (Japanese)
On: ホ / Kun: つか.まえる
🇰🇷
Hanja (Korean)
포
Sound Shift Bridge: The bilabial initial 'b' mirrors historical plosive correspondences across East Asian lexical borrowings.
7. Memory
Vivid Mnemonic Story
Imagine using your HAND (扌) to catch a giant FOO (甫) dog running loose through the street, capturing it securely.
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
哺
bǔto feedReplaces hand radical with mouth radical (口) because feeding involves the mouth.
辅
fǔto assistReplaces hand radical with carriage/vehicle radical (车) to represent supporting carriages.
捕
bǔto captureUses hand radical (扌) for grabbing and seizing.
Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)
哺(bǔ)
捕 has the hand radical (扌) for catching; 哺 has the mouth radical (口) for feeding.
辅(fǔ)
辅 has the car radical (车) and a 3rd tone shift to 3rd/4th tone differences in derivatives.
8. Mastery
Active Recall Challenge
警察正在 [___] 那个危险的逃犯。
Clue: bǔ
Common Learner Pitfall
Confusing the hand radical (扌) on the left with the water radical (氵), leading to nonexistent characters.
Memory Prompts
Recognition: When you see 捕, what action does it signify and how is it pronounced?
Production: How do you write the character meaning 'to capture' (bǔ), which features a hand radical?
Real-World Video Context
Watch authentic native speakers pronounce and explain this word in real-world YouTube videos.
Search theme
Accent preference
Results are live YouTube search — accents and levels aren't verified.
捕bǔto catch; to seize; to capture
Speed:
Searching YouTube for native pronunciation videos...