保 (bǎo): to protect, to guarantee
保 (bǎo) is a Chinese character meaning “to protect, to guarantee.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 亻 (semantic) and 呆 (phonetic). It ranks #266 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 保 person. Its radical form 亻 (person) appears in many related characters such as 人 (rén, person), 什 (shén, what), 今 (jīn, now).
Definitions
- to protect, to guarantee
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 保 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 保
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 保证verb/noun | bǎo zhèng | guarantee | 4 |
| 保护verb | bǎo hù | to protect | 4 |
| 保持verb | bǎo chí | to keep | 5 |
| 确保verb | què bǎo | to ensure | 5 |
| 保险noun/adjective | bǎo xiǎn | insurance | 5 |
| 保安verb/noun | bǎo ān | to ensure public security | 5 |
| 保留verb | bǎo liú | to keep | 5 |
| 保存verb | bǎo cún | to conserve | 5 |
| 保管verb | bǎo guǎn | to hold in safekeeping | 6 |
| 保障verb/noun | bǎo zhàng | to ensure | 6 |
| 环保noun/adjective | huán bǎo | environmental protection | 4 |
| 保健verb | bǎo jiàn | health protection | 6 |
| 保暖verb | bǎo nuǎn | to keep warm | 6 |
| 保质期noun | bǎo zhì qī | shelf life | 5 |
| 保修verb | bǎo xiū | to promise to keep sth in good repair | 6 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 保佑verb | bǎo yòu | to bless and protect |
| 保姆noun | bǎo mǔ | nanny |
| 保密verb | bǎo mì | to keep sth confidential |
| 保重verb | bǎo zhòng | to take care of oneself |
| 保守verb | bǎo shǒu | conservative |
| 保罗proper-noun | bǎo luó | Paul |
| 保险箱noun | bǎo xiǎn xiāng | safe deposit box |
| 保住verb | bǎo zhù | to preserve |
| 保释verb | bǎo shì | to release on bail |
| 保镖noun | bǎo biāo | bodyguard |
| 保卫verb | bǎo wèi | to defend |
| 保龄球noun | bǎo líng qiú | ten-pin bowling (loanword) |
| 担保verb | dān bǎo | to guarantee |
| 安保noun | ān bǎo | security |
| 保险柜noun | bǎo xiǎn guì | a safe |
保 appears in 114 compound words: 69 as the first character, 29 as the last, and 2 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 保 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (21)
to be in a critical and desperate situation; to be on the verge of death (or collapse, defeat, etc.)
to provide a stable crop, regardless of drought or flood; to bring a stable income
to be in a critical and desperate situation; to be on the verge of death (or collapse, defeat, etc.)
Showing 12 of 21 idioms containing 保.
Example Sentences
公司承诺对所有产品提供一年的质量保证。
Gōngsī chéngnuò duì suǒyǒu chǎnpǐn tígōng yì nián de zhìliàng bǎozhèng.
The company promises to provide a one-year quality guarantee for all products.
东方日报C1:倪乐琳幸保财色 心郁改名转运
dōng fāng rì bào C 1 : 倪 lè 琳 xìng bǎo cái sè xīn yù gǎi míng zhuǎn yùn
Oriental Daily C1: Ni Lelin is lucky to protect her wealth and change her name to transfer
中国公务员春节参加相亲 炫富有宾利、保时捷、房子很多
zhōng guó gōng wù yuán chūn jié cān jiā xiāng qīn xuàn fù yǒu bīn lì , bǎo shí jié , fáng zǐ hěn duō
Chinese civil servants participate in the blind date during the Spring Festival and show off their wealth Bentley, Porsche, and many houses
用金牌当屏保,宁忠岩不过是把冷板凳坐热
yòng jīn pái dāng bǐng bǎo , nìng zhōng yán bù guò shì bǎ lěng bǎn dèng zuò rè
Using the gold medal as a screensaver, Ning Zhongyan is just sitting on the cold bench to heat up
马年迎新!湖南省妇幼保健院喜迎24名“小骏马”宝宝
mǎ nián yíng xīn ! hú nán shěng fù yòu bǎo jiàn yuàn xǐ yíng míng xiǎo jùn mǎ bǎo bǎo
The Year of the Horse! Hunan Maternal and Child Health Hospital welcomes 24 "Little Stallion" babies!
...二全国高速公路流量快速回升,午后车流持续保持高..
. . . èr quán guó gāo sù gōng lù liú liáng kuài sù huí shēng , wǔ hòu chē liú chí xù bǎo chí gāo . .
... The second national highway traffic flow quickly rebounded, the afternoon traffic continued to remain high....
你能保守多少秘密？
Nǐ néng bǎoshǒu duōshao mìmì?
How many secrets can you keep?
汤姆有医疗保险吗？
Tāngmǔ yǒu yīliáobǎoxiǎn ma?
Does Tom have health insurance?
我希望我们能保持联系。
Wǒ xīwàng wǒmen néng bǎochí liánxì.
I hope we stay in touch.
我保证这些资料是无误的。
Wǒ bǎozhèng zhèxiē zīliào shì wúwù de.
I guarantee that this information is correct.
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 亻 (person) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 保 (bǎo) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 保 have?
What is the radical of 保?
What are the components of 保?
What are common words containing 保?
What characters sound the same as 保 (bǎo)?
Is 保 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 保 with real-time feedback
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