抱 (bào): to hold, to carry (in one's arms), to hug
抱 (bào) is a Chinese character meaning “to hold.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 扌 (structural) and 包 (structural). It ranks #1120 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 抱 to wrap 包 in one's arms 扌; 包 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 扌 (hand) appears in many related characters such as 手 (shǒu, hand), 打 (dǎ, hit, make), 找 (zhǎo, to look for).
Definitions
- to hold
- to carry (in one's arms)
- to hug
Etymology & Origin
ideographicTo wrap 包 in one's arms 扌; 包 also provides the pronunciation
Decomposition: ⿰扌包 (layout: left-right)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 抱 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 抱
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 抱歉adjective | bào qiàn | to be sorry | 4 |
| 抱怨verb | bào yuàn | to complain | 5 |
| 拥抱verb | yōng bào | to embrace | 5 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 抱抱verb | bào bào | to hug |
| 怀抱verb | huái bào | to hug |
| 抱负noun | bào fù | aspiration |
| 抱有verb | bào yǒu | to have (aspirations, suspicions etc) |
| 搂抱verb | lǒu bào | to hug |
| 抱佛脚verb | bào fó jiǎo | (fig.) to scramble to make up for a lack of preparation |
| 打抱不平phrase | dǎ bào bù píng | (idiom) to aid sb suffering an injustice |
| 环抱verb | huán bào | to encircle |
| 抱头痛哭phrase | bào tóu tòng kū | to weep disconsolately |
| 抱不平verb | bào bù píng | to be outraged by an injustice (done to sb else) |
| 抱病verb | bào bìng | to be ill |
| 抱恨verb | bào hèn | to have a gnawing regret |
| 抱屈verb | bào qū | feel wronged |
| 抱打不平phrase | bào dǎ bù píng | see 打抱不平 |
| 抱成一团 | bào chéng yī tuán | to band together |
抱 appears in 56 compound words: 68 as the first character, 23 as the last, and 9 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 抱 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (10)
to adopt a wrong method to save a situation and end up by making it worse
to take up the cudgels for the injured party; to defend somebody against an injustice
Showing 8 of 10 idioms containing 抱.
Example Sentences
抱照镜子，整理一下自己的仪容。
bào zhào jìng zǐ , zhěng lǐ yī xià zì jǐ de yí róng .
Hold up a mirror and tidy up your appearance.
华邦电抱紧!投信一出手就连2日霸榜 3天涨18%
huá bāng diàn bào jǐn ! tóu xìn yī chū shǒu jiù lián 2 rì bà bǎng 3 tiān zhǎng 1 8
Winbond holds tight! As soon as the investment trust made a move, it dominated the list for 2 consecutive days and rose 18% in 3 days
...含“金”量ETF绩效长红 适合稳健型、长抱型投资人
. . . hán jīn liàng E T F jì xiào cháng hóng shì gě wěn jiàn xíng , cháng bào xíng tóu zī rén
... The performance of ETFs with "gold" is suitable for stable and long-term investors
默茨访华前警告不要抱有“幻想”
mò 茨 fǎng huá qián jǐng gào bù yāo bào yǒu huàn xiǎng
Mertz warned against "illusions" before visiting China
退休仅存20万 大叔靠这2招10年后抱千万
tuì xiū jǐn cún 2 0 wàn dà shū kào zhè 2 zhāo 1 0 nián hòu bào qiān wàn
Only 200,000 yuan is left for retirement, and the uncle relies on these 2 tricks to hold tens of millions in 10 years
我厌倦了她的抱怨。
Wǒ yànjuàn le tā de bàoyuàn.
I'm tired of her complaints.
史密斯回答说，他很抱歉。
Shǐmìsī huídá shuō, tā hěn bàoqiàn.
Smith replied that he was sorry.
很抱歉让你遭这罪。
Hěn bàoqiàn ràng nǐ zāo zhè zuì.
I'm sorry to put you through that.
汤姆和玛丽互相拥抱。
Tāng mǔ hé mǎlì hùxiāng yōngbào.
Tom and Mary hugged each other.
大卫尝试拥抱阿曼达。
Dàwèi chángshì yōngbào āmàndá.
David tried to hug Amanda.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
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Is 抱 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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