剥 (bāo): to peel, to skin, to shell
剥 (bāo) is a Chinese character meaning “to peel.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 录 (phonetic) and 刂 (semantic). It ranks #1932 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 剥 knife. Its radical form 刂 (knife) appears in many related characters such as 分 (fēn, to divide), 别 (bié, to leave), 到 (dào, to reach).
Definitions
- to peel
- to skin
- to shell
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 剥 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 剥夺verb | bō duó | to deprive |
| 剥削verb | bō xuē | to exploit |
| 生吞活剥phrase | shēng tūn huó bō | to swallow whole (idiom) |
| 剥离verb | bō lí | to peel |
| 剥落verb | bō luò | to peel off |
| 剥削者noun | bō xuē zhě | exploiter (of labor) |
| 盘剥verb | pán bō | to exploit |
| 资产剥离 | zī chǎn bō lí | asset stripping |
| 剥采比 | bō cǎi bǐ | stripping-to-ore ratio |
| 现剥 | xiàn bāo | (of fruit, prawns etc) peeled on the spot |
| 被剥削者noun | bèi bō xuē zhě | person suffering exploitation |
| 剥皮器 | bō pí qì | peeler (e.g. for vegetables) |
| 剥除 | bō chú | to strip off |
| 刻剥 | kè bō | to grab money |
| 剥削阶级noun | bō xuē jiē jí | exploiting class (in Marxist theory) |
剥 appears in 24 compound words: 58 as the first character, 25 as the last, and 17 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 剥 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (3)
to skin and eat … alive; to apply uncritically; to use without real understanding
to skin and eat … alive; to apply uncritically; to use without real understanding
Example Sentences
这个剥字在古汉语中有不同的含义。
zhè gě bāo zì zài gǔ hàn yǔ zhōng yǒu bù tóng de hán yì .
The character "剥" had different meanings in classical Chinese.
在“硬哲学”里，爱范儿试图剥离技术和参数的外衣，探求产品设计中人性的本源。
zài yìng zhé xué lǐ , ài fàn ér shì tú bāo lí jì shù hé cān shǔ de wài yī , tàn qiú chǎn pǐn shè jì zhōng rén xìng de běn yuán .
In “Hard Philosophy,” Ifanr seeks to strip away the facade of technology and technical specifications to explore the human essence at the heart of product design.
超商茶叶蛋剥开全是奇怪黑点!客惊吓发霉了 内行人揭真...
chāo shāng chá xié dàn bāo kāi quán shì qí guài hēi diǎn ! kè jīng hè fā méi le nèi háng rén jiē zhēn . . .
Convenience store hard-boiled egg revealed to be full of strange black spots! Customer freaked out thinking it was moldy—an insider reveals the truth...
诱骗同乡偷渡来马劳动剥削 移民局捕4孟加拉男
yòu piàn tóng xiāng tōu dù lái mǎ láo dòng bāo xiāo yí mín jú bǔ 4 mèng jiā lā nán
Deceiving fellow villagers to smuggle into Malaysia for labor exploitation, the immigration bureau arrested 4 Bangladeshi men
南亚外佣遭压榨 八成被剥夺权利 工会倡突击查雇主住所
nán yà wài yòng zāo yā zhà bā chéng bèi bāo duó quán lì gōng huì chàng tū jī chá gù zhǔ zhù suǒ
South Asian foreign domestic helpers are oppressed and 80% are deprived of their rights Trade unions advocate raids on employers' residences
调查:近8成外佣被剥削 苦主被殴兼扣薪 泣诉待遇“畜生不如”
diào chá : jìn 8 chéng wài yòng bèi bāo xiāo kǔ zhǔ bèi ōu jiān kòu xīn qì sù dài yù chù shēng bù rú
Survey: Nearly 80% of foreign domestic helpers are exploited, sufferers are beaten and deducted wages, crying that the treatment is "worse than beasts"
查尔斯剥开了你的香蕉。
Chá'ěrsī bāo kāi le nǐ de xiāngjiāo.
Charles peels your banana.
这项法律会剥夺我们的基本权利。
Zhè xiàng fǎlǜ huì bōduó wǒmen de jīběn quánlì.
This law will deprive us of our basic rights.
没有人能剥夺你的人权。
Méiyǒu rén néng bōduó nǐ de rénquán.
No one can deprive of your human rights.
我五年前做了网膜剥离。
Wǒ wǔ niánqián zuò le wǎngmó bōlí.
I had retinal detachment five years ago.
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 刂 (knife) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 剥 (bāo) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 剥 and 绿?
How many strokes does 剥 have?
What is the radical of 剥?
What are the components of 剥?
What are common words containing 剥?
What characters sound the same as 剥 (bāo)?
Is 剥 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 剥 with real-time feedback
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