报 (bào): to report, newspaper

报 (bào) is a Chinese character meaning “to report, newspaper.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 扌 (structural), 卩 (structural) and 又 (structural). It ranks #234 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 报 a hand 扌 cuffing 又 a criminal 卩, representing sentencing. Its radical form 扌 (hand) appears in many related characters such as 手 (shǒu, hand), 打 (dǎ, hit, make), 找 (zhǎo, to look for).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to report, newspaper

Etymology & Origin

报

ideographicA hand 扌 cuffing 又 a criminal 卩, representing sentencing

Decomposition: ⿰扌⿸卩又 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 报

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
报告verb/nounbào gàoto inform5
报道verb/nounbào dàoto report (news)5
报纸nounbào zhǐnewspaper3
报警verbbào jǐngto sound an alarm5
回报verbhuí bào(in) return6
汇报verbhuì bàoto report6
报名verbbào míngto sign up4
报到verbbào dàoto report for duty5
报社nounbào shènewspaper (i.e. a company)6
预报verb/nounyù bàoforecast5
报刊nounbào kānnewspapers and periodicals6
报考verbbào kǎoto enter oneself for an examination4

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
情报nounqíng bàoinformation
警报nounjǐng bào(fire) alarm
报复verbbào fùto make reprisals
报仇verbbào chóuto take revenge
报应nounbào yìng(Buddhism) divine retribution
报酬nounbào choureward
报导verbbào dǎoto report (in the media)
海报nounhǎi bàoposter
报答verbbào dáto repay
举报verbjǔ bàoto report (malefactors to the police)
电报noundiàn bàotelegram
时报nounshí bào"Times" (newspaper, e.g. New York Times)
简报nounjiǎn bàopresentation
播报verbbō bàoto announce
报案verbbào ànto report a case to the authorities
102
Total compounds
51
As first character
48
As last character
1
As middle character

报 appears in 102 compound words: 51 as the first character, 48 as the last, and 1 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 报 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

告gào
0.57097,723 co-occurrences
纸zhǐ
0.56222,020 co-occurrences
道dào
0.51477,428 co-occurrences
刊kān
0.47712,160 co-occurrences
废fèi
0.4756,446 co-occurrences
情qíng
0.46030,570 co-occurrences
闻wén
0.4547,564 co-occurrences
据jù
0.43213,438 co-occurrences
酬chóu
0.4312,720 co-occurrences
汇huì
0.4307,148 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (15)

报本反始bào běn fǎn shǐHSK 4+

ensure that you pay debts of gratitude (idiom)

phrase
报仇雪耻bàochóuxuěchǐHSK 7+

to avenge a wrong and wipe out or erase humiliation; to take revenge for an insult

phrase
报仇雪恨bàochóu xuěhènHSK 7+

to exact revenge so as to settle a score

phrase
报应不爽bàoyìngbùshuǎngHSK 7+

karmic retribution is inevitable

phrase
打小报告dǎ xiǎobàogàoHSK 3+

to rat on (someone to one's superiors); to tell on; to tattle

verb
恩将仇报ēnjiāngchóubàoHSK 7+

to bite the hand that feeds one; to requite kindness with enmity

phrase
感恩图报gǎn ēn tú bàoHSK 7+

grateful and seeking to repay the kindness (idiom)

phrase
公报私仇gōngbàosīchóuHSK 7+

to use one's official position to avenge a personal grudge

phrase
官报私仇guān bào sī chóuHSK 7+

to take advantage of official post for personal revenge (idiom)

phrase
善有善报shànyǒushànbàoHSK 5+

good deeds leads to good outcomes; one good turn deserves another

phrase
泰晤士报Tàiwùshì BàoHSK 7+

The Times, a British newspaper based in London

天气预报tiānqì yùbàoHSK 4+

weather forecast; weather forecasting

noun

Showing 12 of 15 idioms containing 报.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

请把这个报告打印出来,下午开会时需要用。

Qǐng bǎ zhè gè bàogào dǎyìn chūlái, xiàwǔ kāihuì shí xūyào yòng.

Please print this report; it will be needed for the meeting this afternoon.

百度新闻Feb 2026

新春走基层·新华鲜报|“Becoming Chin..

xīn chūn zǒu jī céng xīn huá xiān bào B e c o m i n g C h i n . .

New Year to the grassroots Xinhua Fresh News|" Becoming Chin..

百度新闻Feb 2026

视频丨空间站的年夜饭都有什么?听航天员报菜名收祝福

shì pín 丨 kōng jiān zhàn de nián yè fàn dū yǒu shén má ? yǐn háng tiān yuán bào cài míng shōu zhù fú

Video 丨What is the New Year's Eve dinner on the space station? I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to make it. I'm going to be able to make it.

百度新闻Feb 2026

渝股2025年业绩预快报:金科股份净利润325亿元..

yú gǔ nián yè jì yù kuài bào jīn kē gǔ fèn jìng lì rùn yì yuán . .

Chongqing Stock 2025 Preliminary Earnings Report: Jinke Co., Ltd. Net Profit Hits 32.5 Billion Yuan...

百度新闻Feb 2026

2026年世界知识产权报告:创新传播速度达历史新高

nián shì jiè zhī shí chǎn quán bào gào chuàng xīn chuán bō sù dù dá lì shǐ xīn gāo

2026 World Intellectual Property Report: Innovation Dissemination Reaches Historic High

百度新闻Feb 2026

用户报告多个网络服务出现问题

yòng hù bào gào duō gě wǎng lào fú wù chū xiàn wèn tí

Users report issues with multiple network services.

Tatoeba

这是份好报纸,不是吗?

Zhè shì fèn hǎo bàozhǐ, bùshìma?

This is a good newspaper, isn't it?

Tatoeba

我能不能看一下你的报纸?

Wǒ néng bù néng kàn yīxià nǐ de bàozhǐ?

Can I have a look at your newspaper?

Tatoeba

今天的报纸中有没有什么特殊消息呢?

Jīntiān de bàozhǐ zhōng yǒuméiyǒu shénme tèshū xiāoxi ne?

Is there any special news in today's paper?

Tatoeba

你可以为我把这份报告翻译成意大利文吗?

Nǐ kěyǐ wèi wǒ bǎ zhè fèn bàogào fānyì chéng Yìdàlì wén ma?

Could you put this report into Italian for me?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced bào

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 报 (bào) mean in Chinese?
报 (bào) primarily means "to report, newspaper." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #234 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 报 have?
报 is written with 7 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 报?
The radical associated with 报 is 扌 (hand). This radical appears in many characters related to hand.
What are the components of 报?
报 is composed of: 扌 (structural), 卩 (structural), 又 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰扌⿸卩又 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 报?
Common words with 报 include: 报告 (bào gào, "to inform"); 报道 (bào dào, "to report (news)"); 报纸 (bào zhǐ, "newspaper"); 报警 (bào jǐng, "to sound an alarm"); 情报 (qíng bào, "information"). There are over 102 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 报 (bào)?
Several characters share the pronunciation bào: 保 (to protect, to guarantee), 包 (to cover), 宝 (jewel), 抱 (to hold), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 报 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 报 and the traditional form is 報.

Practice writing 报 with real-time feedback

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

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.