博 (bó): (bound form) abundant, plentiful, extensive, wide, to win, to gain, to play, to gamble
博 (bó) is a Chinese character meaning “(bound form) abundant.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 十 (semantic) and 尃 (phonetic). It ranks #965 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 博 ten. Its radical form 十 (ten) appears in many related characters such as 十 (shí, ten), 午 (wǔ, 7th earthly branch: 11 a.m.-1 p.m., noon, 5th solar month (6th June-6th July), year of the Horse), 半 (bàn, half).
Definitions
- (bound form) abundant
- plentiful
- extensive
- wide
- to win
- to gain
- to play
- to gamble
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 博 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 博
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 博士noun | bó shì | doctor (as an academic degree) | 4 |
| 博物馆noun | bó wù guǎn | museum | 5 |
| 博览会noun | bó lǎn huì | an exposition | 6 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 赌博 | dǔ bó | to gamble |
| 博客 | bó kè | (loanword) a blog |
| 博得 | bó dé | to win |
| 博爱 | bó ài | to show love and compassion for all humankind |
| 博蒙特 | bó méng tè | Beaumont |
| 博学 | bó xué | learned |
| 比尔博 | bǐ ěr bó | Bilbo Baggins, hero of Tolkien's The Hobbit 霍比特人 |
| 博尔顿 | bó ěr dùn | Bolton (name) |
| 博罗 | bó luó | see 博羅縣|博罗县[Bo2 luo2 Xian4] |
| 渊博 | yuān bó | erudite |
| 博取 | bó qǔ | to win (favors, confidence etc) |
| 博德 | bó dé | Bodø (city in Norway) |
| 博弈论 | bó yì lùn | game theory |
| 博弈 | bó yì | games (such as chess, dice etc) |
| 博文 | bó wén | blog article |
博 appears in 100 compound words: 70 as the first character, 20 as the last, and 10 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 博 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (16)
Bogda Peak (the highest mountain in the Bogda Shan range, in the eastern Tian Shan mountains, China)
to possess a wide knowledge of things ancient and modern; erudite and informed
synonym of 博學強記 /博学强记 (bóxuéqiángjì, “to have a lot of knowledge and a good memory”)
synonym of 博學強記 /博学强记 (bóxuéqiángjì, “to have a lot of knowledge and a good memory”)
Showing 12 of 16 idioms containing 博.
Example Sentences
博字虽然难写,但意思很有趣。
bó zì suī rán nán xiě , dàn yì sī hěn yǒu qù .
The character "博" may be difficult to write, but its meaning is quite interesting.
生于战乱 日军纪念品 变故宫博爱大鼎
shēng yú zhàn luàn rì jūn jì niàn pǐn biàn gù gōng bó ài dà dǐng
Born in the war, Japanese souvenirs turned into the Forbidden City fraternity cauldron
彭博示警 缓冲期过后祭301永久措施
彭 bó shì jǐng huǎn chōng qī guò hòu jì 3 0 1 yǒng jiǔ cuò shī
Bloomberg warns of permanent measures to sacrifice 301 after the buffer period
...本“猫经济”直逼3兆日圆 几乎追平大阪世博
. . . běn māo jīng jì zhí bī 3 zhào rì yuán jī hū zhuī píng dà 阪 shì bó
... This "cat economy" is close to 3 trillion yen, almost equaling the Osaka World Expo
寻马记|能看到86匹灵动骏马的北齐壁画博物馆
xún mǎ jì néng kàn dào 8 6 pǐ líng dòng jùn mǎ de běi qí bì huà bó wù guǎn
The Northern Qi Mural Museum where you can see 86 smart horses
把年味种在“商城之心”,在商博遇见另一种团圆
bǎ nián wèi zhǒng zài shāng chéng zhī xīn , zài shāng bó yù jiàn lìng yī zhǒng tuán yuán
Plant the flavor of the New Year in the "heart of the mall" and meet another reunion at the Business Expo
这城里有没有博物馆?
Zhè chéng lǐ yǒuméiyǒu bówùguǎn?
Is there a museum in this town?
博物馆的入口在哪?
Bówùguǎn de rùkǒu zài nǎ?
Where's the entrance to the museum?
这条路是不是直接通往普拉多博物馆?
Zhè tiáo lù shìbùshì zhíjiē tōngwǎng Pǔlā duō bówùguǎn?
Is this the direct way to the Prado?
你不喜欢赌博,是吗?
Nǐ bù xǐhuan dǔbó, shì ma?
You don't like gambling, do you?
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 博 (bó) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 博 and 窄?
How many strokes does 博 have?
What is the radical of 博?
What are the components of 博?
What are common words containing 博?
What characters sound the same as 博 (bó)?
Is 博 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 博 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.