(báo): thin

(báo) is a Chinese character meaning “thin.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #1424 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, grass. Its radical form (grass) appears in many related characters such as (huā, flower), (chá, tea), (cài, vegetable, dish).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. thin

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticgrass

Decomposition: ⿱艹溥 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
adjectivebó ruòweak6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
kè bóunkind
báo bǐngthin flat cake
bò hemint (plant)
bò he tángmint (confectionery)
qiǎn bósuperficial
xī bóthin
wēi bóscanty
dān bóweak
rú lǚ bó bīnglit. as if walking on thin ice (idiom)
bó mómembrane
báo piànthin slice
qīng bólight (weight)
bó wùmist
bò he yóupeppermint oil
wàng zì fěi bóto be unduly humble (idiom)
95
Total compounds
48
As first character
27
As last character
24
As middle character

appears in 95 compound words: 48 as the first character, 27 as the last, and 24 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

0.62012,438 co-occurrences
ruò
0.58816,602 co-occurrences
0.5169,816 co-occurrences
0.5153,912 co-occurrences
0.5104,644 co-occurrences
0.4701,206 co-occurrences
bǐng
0.4671,080 co-occurrences
0.4355,640 co-occurrences
hòu
0.4252,988 co-occurrences
0.4223,168 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (17)

bólìduōxiāoHSK 5+

to sell at low prices to obtain small profits but quick returns

phrase
hóngyánbómìngHSK 5+

beautiful women often suffer unhappy fates

phrase
hòucǐbóbǐHSK 5+

to favour one and slight the other

verb
hòugǔbójīnHSK 5+

to set great store by the past but look down on the present

phrase
hòujībófāHSK 5+

to gradually acquire knowledge, and make use of it when needed; good preparation is the key to success

phrase
jiānsuānkèbóHSK 6+

acrid and unsympathetic; sharp and unkind; merciless; pitiless

phrase
kè bó guǎ ēnHSK 7+

harsh and merciless (idiom)

phrase
pēn bó yù chūHSK 6+

to be on the verge of eruption (idiom); (of the sun) to emerge in all its brilliance

phrase
pín zuǐ bó shéHSK 6+

garrulous and sharp-tongued

phrase
qīng kǒu bó shéHSK 6+

(idiom) hasty and rude; caustic and sharp-tongued

phrase
qīng làng fú bóHSK 6+

(idiom) frivolous

phrase
qīng zuǐ bó shéHSK 6+

lit. light mouth, thin tongue (idiom); hasty and rude; caustic and sharp-tongued

phrase

Showing 12 of 17 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这本书很,一天就可以读完。

Zhè běn shū hěn báo, yì tiān jiù kěyǐ dú wán.

This book is very thin; it can be finished in one day.

Hk01.comMar 2026

...有一两阵微雨 日间温暖市区约26度 晚有

. . . yǒu yī liǎng zhèn wēi yǔ rì jiān wēn nuǎn shì qū yuē 2 6 dù wǎn yǒu báo wù

...There will be a light shower or two; it will be warm during the day, with temperatures around 26°C in the city, and there will be light fog in the evening.

99 健康网Mar 2026

双男张腿憋尿勒肚子小腹凸的是腹壁弱吗?疝气早期表现需排查

shuāng nán zhāng tuǐ biē niào lè dù zǐ xiǎo fù tū de shì fù bì báo ruò ma ? 疝 qì zǎo qī biǎo xiàn xū pái chá

Do two men with their legs spread apart, holding in their urine, and a protruding lower abdomen have weak abdominal walls? Early signs of a hernia should be investigated.

99 健康网Mar 2026

...科白斑怎么治疗才能彻底根除?老年患者皮肤慎用强效激素吗

. . . kē bái bān zěn má zhì liáo cái néng chè de gēn chú ? lǎo nián huàn zhě pí fū báo shèn yòng qiáng xiào jī sù ma

...How can vitiligo be treated to ensure it is completely cured? Should elderly patients with thin skin exercise caution when using potent corticosteroids?

LtnMar 2026

旗舰踢铁板!三星高层罕见认销售不佳、下一...

chāo báo qí jiàn tī tiě bǎn ! sān xīng gāo céng hǎn jiàn rèn xiāo shòu bù jiā , xià yī . . .

Ultra-thin flagship kicks the iron plate! Samsung's top management rarely admits that sales are poor, and the next...

Hk01.comFeb 2026

黃婉恩重回單身後衣着更大膽 穿吊帶紗裙海邊大晒凹凸有致身材

黃 wǎn ēn chóng huí 單 shēn 後 yī zhe gēng dà 膽 chuān diào 帶 báo 紗 qún hǎi 邊 dà shài āo tū yǒu zhì shēn cái

After returning to singleness, Huang Wanen dressed more boldly, wearing a suspender tulle skirt and a sunny and convex figure on the beach

Tatoeba

我们登得愈高,空气就愈稀

Wǒmen dēng de yù gāo, kōngqì jiù yù xībó.

The higher we go up, the thinner the air becomes.

Tatoeba

她衣衫单,恐会着凉。

Tā yīshān dānbó, kǒng huì zháoliáng.

She wore such thin clothes that she might well catch a cold.

Tatoeba

透过雾,我隐约看见了我的未来。

Tòuguò bówù, wǒ yǐnyuē kànjiàn le wǒ de wèilái.

In looking through the mist, I caught a glimpse of my future.

Tatoeba

嗨, 我要一个炸饼卷。

Hāi, wǒ yào yī gè zhá báobǐng juǎn.

Hi, I'd like a deep-fried pizza roll.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced báo

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 薄 (báo) mean in Chinese?
薄 (báo) primarily means "thin." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1424 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 薄 and 厚?
薄 (báo) and 厚 (hòu) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 薄 (thin) vs 厚 (thick).
How many strokes does 薄 have?
薄 is written with 16 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 薄?
The radical associated with 薄 is 艹 (grass). This radical appears in many characters related to grass.
What are the components of 薄?
薄 is composed of: 艹 (semantic), 溥 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱艹溥 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 薄?
Common words with 薄 include: 刻薄 (kè bó, "unkind"); 薄饼 (báo bǐng, "thin flat cake"); 薄荷 (bò he, "mint (plant)"); 薄荷糖 (bò he táng, "mint (confectionery)"); 薄弱 (bó ruò, "weak"). There are over 95 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 薄 (báo)?
Several characters share the pronunciation báo: 包 (to cover), 胞 (placenta), 煲 (to cook slowly over a low flame), 宝 (jewel), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 薄 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 薄 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.