駁 (bó) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

駁

bó[bo2]Tone 2

to refute, contradict, variegated, barge

HSK 7

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驳

Guru Deep Dive

English · to refute, contradict, variegated, barge

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:7

Writing Balance Rule: The left component (马) is narrower and slightly taller, while the right component (爻) is broader and anchors the right side.

Simplification Logic: Simplified from 駁 by replacing the traditional 馬 radical on the left with the simplified character 马, reducing stroke count.

1. Meaning

to refute or contradict an argument or statement

variegated or mixed in color (of horses)heterogeneous or speckledto ship goods by barge or lighter

Verb / AdjectiveFormal / Literary#debate#logic#color#transportation

Sample Usage

他的观点被当场驳回了。
Tā de guāndiǎn bèi dāngchǎng bóhuí le.
His viewpoint was refuted on the spot.
驳斥谣言
bóchì yáoyán
to refute rumors

2. Sound

/[pɑʊ̯³⁵]/Tone: 35

駁

bóbo2

´(35)

=bó

Build the syllable

Step-by-step blending

Tone mark placement: Tone mark sits on "o" per main-vowel priority (a > e > o; in -iu/-ui the mark takes the second vowel).

Initial Consonant

Type: Unaspirated Bilabial

Sounds like: b sound 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 closed tightly together, then released with a soft voiced burst.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -o vowel group

Sounds like: o sounds like aw in law

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 starts in the middle register and climbs sharply to the top, exactly like asking 'What?' in English disbelief.

Sandhi: When followed by another Tone 2, the initial tone rises slightly less.

👂

Listening trap: Do not confuse 'bó' with 'bō' (Tone 1) or 'bò' (Tone 4). The rising Tone 2 requires your voice to actively pitch upward.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A rising hand gesture moving upward from chest level to head height, mirroring an upward question mark.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 7 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left component (马) is narrower and slightly taller, while the right component (爻) is broader and anchors the right side.

Simplification Logic: Simplified from 駁 by replacing the traditional 馬 radical on the left with the simplified character 马, reducing stroke count.

4. Components

Radical 马 · Horse Radical (Horse)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 马 (Indicates the original root meaning connected to horses (variegated horse color))

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 爻 (original sound: bó / yao sound clues in historical phonetic series)

A horse (马) combined with a crossed pattern (爻) representing mixed, speckled, or crisscrossing colors on a horse's coat, later extended to crossing swords in a debate (refuting).

马 Horse (left radical)
爻 Crossed lines / mixed pattern (right component)

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

3· Phonetic Root: 爻 (yáo)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally referred to a horse with mixed or variegated coat colors. Over time, the meaning broadened to mean mixed, heterogeneous, and later metaphorically 'crossing arguments' to refute someone.

Semantic Evolution: Speckled horse coat ➔ mixed/heterogeneous ➔ to cross words in argument ➔ to refute.

In ancient texts, 驳 was frequently used to describe strange mythical beasts with mixed coats.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: ハク

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

박

Sound Shift Bridge: The initial 'b' corresponds across Sino-Xenic readings in Korean (bak) and Japanese (haku/baku).

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Imagine a spotted HORSE (马) standing under crossed X-shaped (爻) beams, stubbornly REFUTING every attempt to saddle it.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

爻

yáothe solid and broken lines of the eight trigrams 八卦[ba1 gua4], e.g. ☶Phonetic Core (声旁)

驳

bóvariant of 駁|驳[bo2]+ 马 (horse)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

泼(pō)

Has the water radical (氵) instead of horse (马) and means to splash.

拔(bá)

Has the hand radical (扌) instead of horse (马) and means to pull out.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

她的提議被經理無情地[___]回了。

Clue: bó

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the right-hand component (爻) with similar looking components like 文 or 父, leading to incorrect proportions when writing.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see 驳, what are its primary dual functions in modern Chinese?

Production: How do you write the character for 'to refute' (bó), and what radical does it use?

駁bóto refute, contradict, variegated, barge

Speed:

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