魄 (pò): (literary) soul, mortal soul (i.e. attached to the body)

魄 (pò) is a Chinese character meaning “(literary) soul.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 白 (phonetic) and 鬼 (semantic). It ranks #2425 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 魄 spirit. Its radical form 鬼 (ghost) appears in many related characters such as 鬼 (guǐ, disembodied spirit), 魁 (kuí, chief), 魂 (hún, soul).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. (literary) soul
  2. mortal soul (i.e. attached to the body)

Etymology & Origin

魄

pictophoneticspirit

Decomposition: ⿰白鬼 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

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

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
魂魄nounhún pòsoul
魄力nounpò lìcourage
惊心动魄phrasejīng xīn dòng pò(idiom) heart-stopping
气魄nounqì pòspirit
魂飞魄散phrasehún fēi pò sànlit. the soul flies away and scatters (idiom)
体魄nountǐ pòphysique
动人心魄dòng rén xīn pò(idiom) breathtaking
动魄惊心dòng pò jīng xīnsee 驚心動魄|惊心动魄
惊魂动魄jīng hún dòng pòsee 驚心動魄|惊心动魄
三魂七魄phrasesān hún qī pòthree immortal souls and seven mortal forms in Daoism, contrasting the spiritual and carnal side of man
失魂落魄phraseshī hún luò pò(idiom) dazed
亡魂失魄wáng hún shī pòsee 喪魂失魄|丧魂失魄
动魄dòng pòshocking
丧魂失魄sàng hún shī pò(idiom) out of one's senses
失魂丧魄shī hún sàng pòsee 喪魂失魄|丧魂失魄
23
Total compounds
4
As first character
87
As last character
9
As middle character

魄 appears in 23 compound words: 4 as the first character, 87 as the last, and 9 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 魄 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

捉zhuō
0.70912 co-occurrences
悬xuán
0.66310 co-occurrences
触chù
0.64712 co-occurrences
魂hún
0.6472,724 co-occurrences
刀dāo
0.5441,312 co-occurrences
救jiù
0.50212 co-occurrences
惊jīng
0.479255 co-occurrences
落luò
0.4641,369 co-occurrences
红hóng
0.44011 co-occurrences
击jī
0.43112 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (9)

动魄惊心dòng pò jīng xīnHSK 7+

see 驚心動魄|惊心动魄

phrase
动人心魄dòng rén xīn pòHSK 7+

(idiom) breathtaking; deeply affecting

phrase
魂飞魄散húnfēipòsànHSK 7+

to be frightened stiff; to be spooked out of one's mind; to be terror-stricken

phrase
惊心动魄jīngxīndòngpòHSK 7+

soul-stirring; profoundly affecting

phrase
三魂七魄sānhúnqīpòHSK 7+

three hun and seven po

phrase
丧魂落魄sànghúnluòpòHSK 7+

synonym of 失魂落魄 (shīhúnluòpò)

phrase
失魂落魄shīhúnluòpòHSK 7+

driven to distraction; panic-stricken; to lose one's wits

phrase
失魂丧魄shī hún sàng pòHSK 7+

see 喪魂失魄|丧魂失魄

phrase
亡魂失魄wáng hún shī pòHSK 7+

see 喪魂失魄|丧魂失魄

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个魄字在古汉语中有不同的含义。

zhè gě pò zì zài gǔ hàn yǔ zhōng yǒu bù tóng de hán yì .

The character "魄" carries different meanings in classical Chinese.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

四位小妖为守护无辜幼儿,对抗黄眉老怪,大战一夜后修为耗尽,面临魂飞魄散的险境。

sì wèi xiǎo yāo wéi shǒu hù wú gū yòu ér , duì kàng huáng méi lǎo guài , dà zhàn yī yè hòu xiū wéi hào jǐn , miàn lín hún fēi pò sàn de xiǎn jìng .

To protect the innocent children, the four little demons fought the Yellow-Browed Old Demon all night long. By the end, their spiritual energy was completely depleted, and they faced the peril of having their souls scattered to the winds.

StheadlineApr 2026

...$47万活捉机师 美战机遭击落触发惊心动魄拯救战

. . . 4 7 wàn huó zhuō jī shī měi zhàn jī zāo jī luò chù fā jīng xīn dòng pò zhěng jiù zhàn

...$470,000 to capture pilot alive; U.S. fighter jet shot down triggers a harrowing rescue mission

StheadlineApr 2026

...救援、悬红捉机师 美战机遭击落触发惊心动魄搜救战

. . . jiù yuán , xuán hóng zhuō jī shī měi zhàn jī zāo jī luò chù fā jīng xīn dòng pò sōu jiù zhàn

...Rescue Efforts and Reward for Pilot: U.S. Warplane Shot Down Triggers Thrilling Search and Rescue Operation

東方日報Mar 2026

正论:火灾动魄惊心 部门优劣立见

zhèng lùn : huǒ zāi dòng pò jīng xīn bù mén yōu liè lì jiàn

Editorial: A Fire That Shakes the Soul; The Strengths and Weaknesses of Government Agencies Are Immediately Apparent

Vietnam+Feb 2026

钵场陶瓷里的越南气魄

钵 chǎng táo cí lǐ de yuè nán qì pò

The Vietnamese spirit in bowl ceramics

Tatoeba

她莞尔一笑,动人心魄。

Tā wǎn'ěryīxiào, dòngrénxīnpò.

She smiles, very moving.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 鬼 (spirit) component

鬼 Radical Family — Characters sharing the ghost radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced pò

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 魄 (pò) mean in Chinese?
魄 (pò) primarily means "(literary) soul." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2425 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 魄 and 百?
魄 (pò) and 百 (bǎi) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 鬼 vs 白 (same 白 component).
How many strokes does 魄 have?
魄 is written with 14 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 魄?
The radical associated with 魄 is 鬼 (ghost). This radical appears in many characters related to ghost.
What are the components of 魄?
魄 is composed of: 白 (phonetic), 鬼 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰白鬼 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 魄?
Common words with 魄 include: 魂魄 (hún pò, "soul"); 魄力 (pò lì, "courage"); 惊心动魄 (jīng xīn dòng pò, "(idiom) heart-stopping"); 气魄 (qì pò, "spirit"); 魂飞魄散 (hún fēi pò sàn, "lit. the soul flies away and scatters (idiom)"). There are over 23 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 魄 (pò)?
Several characters share the pronunciation pò: 迫 (to persecute), 粕 (grains in distilled liquor). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 魄 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 魄 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 魄 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.