薄 (bó) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

薄

bó[bo2]Tone 2

thin, slight, meager, or to despise

HSK 4

Multiple Readings (多音字):

Guru Deep Dive

English · thin, slight, meager, or to despise

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Topology:Top-bottom

Strokes:16

Writing Balance Rule: The grass radical on top should be broad and flat, while the bottom structure balances evenly with the left vegetation-like elements and the right base.

1. Meaning

thin, slight, or meager in amount, quality, or thickness

ungenerous or unkindfrivolousto despise or belittlesurname Bo

Adjective / VerbNeutral#physical properties#emotions#attitudes#surnames

Sample Usage

这本书很薄。
zhè běn shū hěn bó.
This book is very thin.
薄情寡义
bó qíng guǎ yì
fickle and lacking in affection (idiom)

2. Sound

/[pɔ³⁵]/Tone: 35

薄

bóbo2

´(35)

=bó

Initial Consonant

Type: Unaspirated Bilabial

Sounds like: b as in 'boy'

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: No burst of air. A tissue in front of lips should stay still.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Both lips pressed together lightly and released gently without a heavy burst of air.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -o vowel group

Sounds like: rhymes with the 'aw' sound in 'awful' or short 'o' in British 'pot'

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'aw'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T2 (35)

3 → 5 (35)

2nd Tone (Mid-Rising)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 2 rises like asking a question in English: 'What?' or 'Really?'

Sandhi: When followed by another Tone 3 syllable, it changes to a Tone 2 rising pitch.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the rising tone (Tone 2) with Tone 4, or confusing the vowel sound with 'bao'.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A rising hand gesture moving upward from chest level to eye level, mirroring an upward slide in voice pitch.

3. Writing

Topology: Top-bottom · Strokes: 16 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The grass radical on top should be broad and flat, while the bottom structure balances evenly with the left vegetation-like elements and the right base.

4. Components

Radical 艹 · Grass radical (Plants, vegetation)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 艹 (Indicates plant-like origin or general categorization)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 溥 (original sound: bó)

A grass radical (艹) sits atop a vast expanse of water and fields (溥), representing fragile vegetation spread thinly across the earth.

艹 Grass radical (top)
溥 Phonetic and semantic background (bottom)

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

3· Phonetic Root: 溥 (pǔ)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally derived from components indicating fragile or sparse foliage, evolving to signify things that are thin, sparse, or lacking in substance.

Semantic Evolution: From physical thinness of leaves or layers to abstract meagerness, lack of warmth in relationships, and looking down on others.

Frequently used in ancient texts to describe poor soil quality or meager harvests.

6. Sinosphere

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

You step on a patch of grass (艹) that is so THIN (bó) and fragile that it feels like paper, revealing the dry earth underneath.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

溥

pǔvast, widespreadReplaces the top grass radical with water or general elements representing widespread depth.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

傅(fù)

Has a person radical (亻) on the left instead of grass on top, meaning tutor or instructor.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

这本小说很[___]，我一会儿就读完了。

Clue: bó

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the pronunciation tone with Tone 4 (bò) or misremembering the complex stroke order of the lower component.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does 薄 (bó) mean when describing ice or paper?

Production: How do you write the character for 'thin / meager' (bó) with 16 strokes?

薄bóthin, slight, meager, or to despise

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