薄 (báo): thin

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

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

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. thin

Etymology & Origin

薄

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 薄

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
薄弱adjectivebó ruòweak6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
刻薄adjectivekè bóunkind
薄饼nounbáo bǐngthin flat cake
薄荷nounbò hemint (plant)
薄荷糖nounbò he tángmint (confectionery)
浅薄adjectiveqiǎn bósuperficial
稀薄adjectivexī bóthin
微薄adjectivewēi bóscanty
单薄adjectivedān bóweak
如履薄冰phraserú lǚ bó bīng(lit.) as if walking on thin ice (idiom)
薄膜nounbó mómembrane
薄片nounbáo piànthin slice
轻薄adjectiveqīng bólight (weight)
薄雾nounbó wùmist
妄自菲薄phrasewàng zì fěi bóto be unduly humble (idiom)
薄荷油nounbò he yóupeppermint oil
96
Total compounds
49
As first character
28
As last character
23
As middle character

薄 appears in 96 compound words: 49 as the first character, 28 as the last, and 23 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 薄 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

膜mó
0.6114,146 co-occurrences
凸tū
0.55111 co-occurrences
弱ruò
0.5265,541 co-occurrences
荷hé
0.5083,272 co-occurrences
稀xī
0.5071,304 co-occurrences
扶fú
0.5031,548 co-occurrences
暮mù
0.463402 co-occurrences
饼bǐng
0.460360 co-occurrences
纱shā
0.44190 co-occurrences
刻kè
0.4291,880 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (17)

薄利多销bólìduōxiāoHSK 5+

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

phrase
红颜薄命hóngyánbómìngHSK 5+

beautiful women often suffer unhappy fates

phrase
厚此薄彼hòucǐbóbǐHSK 5+

to favour one and slight the other

verb
厚古薄今hòugǔbójīnHSK 5+

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

phrase
厚积薄发hòujībófāHSK 5+

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

phrase
尖酸刻薄jiānsuānkèbóHSK 6+

acrid and unsympathetic; sharp and unkind; merciless; pitiless

phrase
刻薄寡恩kè bó guǎ ēnHSK 7+

harsh and merciless (idiom)

phrase
喷薄欲出pēn bó yù chūHSK 6+

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

phrase
贫嘴薄舌pín zuǐ bó shéHSK 6+

garrulous and sharp-tongued

phrase
轻口薄舌qīng kǒu bó shéHSK 6+

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

phrase
轻浪浮薄qīng làng fú bóHSK 6+

(idiom) frivolous

phrase
轻嘴薄舌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 薄.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这本书很薄,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 晚有薄雾

. . . 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薄弱吗?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?老年患者皮肤薄慎用强效激素吗

. . . 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

超薄旗舰踢铁板!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 穿吊帶薄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,空气就愈稀薄。

Wǒmen dēng de yù gāo, kōngqì jiù yù xībó.

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

Tatoeba

她衣衫单薄,恐会着凉。

Tā yīshān dānbó, kǒng huì zháoliáng.

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

Tatoeba

透过薄雾,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, 我要一个炸薄饼卷。

Hāi, wǒ yào yī gè zhá báobǐng juǎn.

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

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 艹 (grass) component

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 96 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 薄 (báo)?
Several characters share the pronunciation báo: 保 (to protect, to guarantee), 报 (to report, newspaper), 包 (to cover), 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 薄 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.