Meaning
to hold; to carry (in one's arms); to hug or embrace; surround; cherish
Chinese: 抱住、怀抱;也表示心怀。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “bao” becomes a different word in each tone. 抱 is the 4th tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.
Stroke Order
Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.
Common Words
- 抱歉bào qiànto be sorry; to feel apologetic; sorry!
- 抱怨bào yuànto complain; to grumble; to harbor a complaint; to feel dissatisfied
- 拥抱yōng bàoto embrace; to hug
- 抱负bào fùaspiration; ambition
- 怀抱huái bàoto hug; to cherish; within the bosom (of the family); to embrace (also fig. an ideal, aspiration etc)
Example Sentence
妈妈轻轻地抱起了哭闹的孩子。Mā ma qīng qīng de bào qǐ le kū nào de hái zi.Mom gently picked up the crying child.
妈妈Mā mamama轻轻qīng qīnglightly地de(adverb marker)抱bàoto hold起qǐto rise了le(completed action)哭闹kū nàoto bawl, disturbing others的deof孩子hái zichild。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
The hand radical 扌 (meaning) plus 包 (bāo, sound): to wrap the arms around — ‘to embrace / hold’.
A way to remember it
Arms (扌) wrapping (包) around — to hug.
Easy to confuse with
- 跑‘To run’: shares the 包 sound, but with the foot radical 足.