包 (bāo): to cover, to wrap, to hold, to include, to take charge of, to contract (to or for)
包 (bāo) is a Chinese character meaning “to cover.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 勹 (structural) and 巳 (structural). It ranks #454 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 包 to swaddle 勹 a baby 巳; 勹 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 勹 (wrap) appears in many related characters such as 勺 (sháo, spoon), 勾 (gōu, to attract), 勿 (wù, do not).
Definitions
- to cover
- to wrap
- to hold
- to include
- to take charge of
- to contract (to or for)
Etymology & Origin
ideographicTo swaddle 勹 a baby 巳; 勹 also provides the pronunciation
Decomposition: ⿹勹巳 (layout: surround-from-upper-right)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 包 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 包
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 包括verb | bāo kuò | to comprise | 5 |
| 面包noun | miàn bāo | bread | 1 |
| 包裹verb/noun | bāo guǒ | to wrap up | 5 |
| 打包verb | dǎ bāo | to wrap | 5 |
| 背包noun | bēi bāo | knapsack | 4 |
| 包装verb/noun | bāo zhuāng | to wrap | 5 |
| 包含verb | bāo hán | to contain | 5 |
| 书包noun | shū bāo | schoolbag | 2 |
| 包子noun | bāo zi | baozi | 1 |
| 红包noun | hóng bāo | money wrapped in red as a gift | 4 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 钱包noun | qián bāo | purse |
| 包围verb | bāo wéi | to surround |
| 汉堡包noun | hàn bǎo bāo | (loanword) hamburger |
| 包袱noun | bāo fu | wrapping cloth |
| 公文包 | gōng wén bāo | briefcase |
| 承包商noun | chéng bāo shāng | contractor |
| 皮包noun | pí bāo | handbag |
| 包厢noun | bāo xiāng | box (in a theater or concert hall) |
| 包扎verb | bāo zā | variant of 包紮|包扎 |
| 面包店noun | miàn bāo diàn | bakery |
| 手提包 | shǒu tí bāo | (hand)bag |
| 包容verb | bāo róng | to pardon |
| 包皮noun | bāo pí | wrapping |
| 包庇verb | bāo bì | to shield |
| 包抄verb | bāo chāo | to outflank |
包 appears in 109 compound words: 69 as the first character, 28 as the last, and 4 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 包 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (16)
to take away somebody else's work; to run things all by oneself without consulting others
valuable family property; private business; secrets; personal matters; privacy
guaranteed to cure all illnesses; cure-all; bags can cure all unhappiness
to take away somebody else's work; to run things all by oneself without consulting others
guaranteed to cure all illnesses; cure-all; bags can cure all unhappiness
valuable family property; private business; secrets; personal matters; privacy
Showing 12 of 16 idioms containing 包.
Example Sentences
这个包裹太重了，我需要找人帮忙搬。
Zhè gè bāoguǒ tài zhòng le, wǒ xūyào zhǎo rén bāngmáng bān.
This package is too heavy; I need to find someone to help move it.
TACO老招没在怕?网笑“周一开盘大礼包”
T A C O lǎo zhāo méi zài pà ? wǎng xiào zhōu yī kāi pán dà lǐ bāo
Are you not afraid of TACO tricks? Internet laughter "Monday opening gift package"
出国荷包失血!泰国六大机场6月起国际离境费大涨5...
chū guó hé bāo shī xiě ! tài guó liù dà jī chǎng 6 yuè qǐ guó jì lí jìng fèi dà zhǎng 5 . . .
Blood loss in the wallet abroad! Thailand's six major airports have seen a sharp increase in international departure fees by 5% since June...
谷爱凌李方慧包揽冠亚军,中国体育代表团创历史
gǔ ài líng lǐ fāng huì bāo lǎn guàn yà jūn , zhōng guó tǐ yù dài biǎo tuán chuàng lì shǐ
Gu Ailing and Li Fanghui won the championship and runner-up, and the Chinese sports delegation made history
英国男子打砸香港机场 包中还搜出疑似管制药品
yīng guó nán zǐ dǎ zá xiāng gǎng jī chǎng bāo zhōng hái sōu chū yí shì guǎn zhì yào pǐn
British man vandalizes Hong Kong airport, suspected controlled substances found in his bag.
豆包除夕AI互动19亿次
dòu bāo chú xī hù dòng yì cì
Doubao's Lunar New Year Eve AI Interaction Hits 1.9 Billion Times
你午饭想吃面包吗？
Nǐ wǔfàn xiǎng chī miànbāo ma?
Would you like some bread for lunch?
你在附近看见过一只咖啡色的钱包吗？
Nǐ zài fùjìn kànjiàn guo yī zhī kāfēisè de qiánbāo ma?
Did you see a brown wallet around here?
这种式样的钱包你们有卖吗？
Zhèzhǒng shìyàng de qiánbāo nǐmen yǒu mài ma?
Do you sell this style of wallet?
你能给我看看这个包吗？
Nǐ néng gěi wǒ kànkan zhège bāo ma?
Could you show me this bag?
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 包 (bāo) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 包 have?
What is the radical of 包?
What are the components of 包?
What are common words containing 包?
What characters sound the same as 包 (bāo)?
Is 包 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 包 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.