孢 (bāo): spore

孢 (bāo) is a Chinese character meaning “spore.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 子 (semantic) and 包 (phonetic). It ranks #3609 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 孢 seed. Its radical form 子 (child) appears in many related characters such as 子 (zǐ, son), 学 (xué, to learn), 字 (zì, letter).

Spoken pronunciation
Radical: 子 child8 strokesFrequency #3609子 semantic包 phonetic

Definitions

  1. spore

Etymology & Origin

孢

pictophoneticseed

Decomposition: ⿰子包 (layout: left-right)

Components:子semantic包phonetic

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Practice writing 孢 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
孢子nounbāo zǐspore
芽孢nounyá bāoendospore
头孢拉定tóu bāo lā dìng(pharm.) cefradine (aka cephradine)
球孢子菌病qiú bāo zǐ jūn bìngCoccidioidomycosis
头孢tóu bāo(pharm.) cephalosporin
头孢菌素tóu bāo jūn sù(pharm.) cephalosporin
厌酷球孢子菌yàn kù qiú bāo zǐ jūnCoccidioides immitis
头孢噻吩tóu bāo sāi fēn(pharm.) cefalotin (aka cephalothin)
肉毒梭状芽孢杆菌ròu dú suō zhuàng yá bāo gǎn jūnClostridium botulinum
蜡样芽孢杆菌nounlà yàng yá bāo gǎn jūn(microbiology) Bacillus cereus
双孢蘑菇nounshuāng bāo mó gūcultivated mushroom
11
Total compounds
9
As first character
18
As last character
73
As middle character

孢 appears in 11 compound words: 9 as the first character, 18 as the last, and 73 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

双孢蘑菇shuāngbāo mógu

button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus)

noun

Example Sentences

中国新闻网·生活Oct 2026

头孢停药3天能喝酒？喝茶喝醋能“刮油”？这些谣言别信

tóu bāo tíng yào 3 tiān néng hē jiǔ ? hē chá hē cù néng guā yóu ? zhè xiē yáo yán bié xìn

Can You Drink Alcohol 3 Days After Stopping Cefazolin? Can Drinking Tea or Vinegar “Flush Out Fat”? Don’t Believe These Myths

中国新闻网·生活Jul 2026

一根根细长挺立的孢囊密集丛生，整体呈细棒状，高度大概1-3厘米，呈黑色或暗褐色。

yī gēn gēn xì cháng tǐng lì de bāo náng mì jí cóng shēng , zhěng tǐ chéng xì bàng zhuàng , gāo dù dà gài 1 3 lí mǐ , chéng hēi sè huò àn hè sè .

Slender, upright spores grow in dense clusters, forming a thin, rod-like structure approximately 1–3 centimeters tall, which is black or dark brown in color.

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

头孢停药三天能饮酒?车厘子含褪黑素可助眠?科...

tóu 孢 tíng yào sān tiān néng yǐn jiǔ ? chē lí zǐ hán 褪 hēi sù kě zhù mián ? kē . . .

Can I drink alcohol three days after stopping cephalosporin antibiotics? Do cherries contain melatonin to aid sleep? Science...

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 子 (seed) component

存cún孩hái孤gū

子 Radical Family — Characters sharing the child radical

子zǐ学xué字zì季jì孙sūn孵fū孪luán

Related Characters

子zǐ学xué字zì孩hái孪luán存cún季jì孙sūn孤gū孵fū

Homophones — Characters pronounced bāo

胞bāo

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 孢 (bāo) mean in Chinese?
孢 (bāo) primarily means "spore." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #3609 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 孢 and 跑?
孢 (bāo) and 跑 (pǎo) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 子 vs 足 (same 包 component).
How many strokes does 孢 have?
孢 is written with 8 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 孢?
The radical associated with 孢 is 子 (child). This radical appears in many characters related to child.
What are the components of 孢?
孢 is composed of: 子 (semantic), 包 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰子包 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 孢?
Common words with 孢 include: 孢子 (bāo zǐ, "spore"); 芽孢 (yá bāo, "endospore"); 头孢拉定 (tóu bāo lā dìng, "(pharm.) cefradine (aka cephradine)"); 球孢子菌病 (qiú bāo zǐ jūn bìng, "Coccidioidomycosis"); 头孢 (tóu bāo, "(pharm.) cephalosporin"). There are over 11 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 孢 (bāo)?
Several characters share the pronunciation bāo: 胞 (placenta). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 孢 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 孢 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 孢 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Download on theApp StoreGet it onGoogle Play

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.