HSK 6 · Body

哺乳 bǔrǔ “to breastfeed” in Chinese

Said as búrǔ

Same in Traditional

What 哺乳 means

  1. to breastfeed
  2. to suckle
  3. breastfeeding
  4. to nurse

How to say 哺乳

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale哺bǔ3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale乳rǔ3rd tone, dipping

Said as búrǔ. When two third tones meet, the first one rises into a second tone. You still write it with two third tones. How tone changes work

哺乳 in a sentence

  1. 鲸鱼是哺乳动物。

    Jīngyú shì bǔrǔ dòngwù.

    A whale is a mammal.

    Sentence #782150 from Tatoeba

  2. 海狸可能被认为是地球上最忙碌的哺乳动物。

    Hǎilí kěnéng bèi rènwéi shì dìqiú shang zuì mánglù de bǔrǔ dòngwù.

    Beavers may be the busiest mammals on Earth.

    Sentence #10201114 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 哺乳 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 哺 (bǔ) with each of its parts in a different colour
哺bǔto feed
  • 口mouth · kǒuMeaning part
  • 甫to begin · fǔSound part

口 hints at the meaning (mouth); 甫 (fǔ) hints at the sound. Compare it with bǔ.

The character 乳 (rǔ) with each of its parts in a different colour
乳rǔbreast
  • 孚part of the characterSound part
  • 乚second (cyclical) form of 乙 · yǐMeaning part

How to write 哺乳

哺 10 strokes · 乳 8 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

哺乳 (bǔrǔ) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 哺乳 (bǔrǔ). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 哺乳

More words: People, Body & Health

保养bǎoyǎng · to take care of (one’s health)保重bǎozhòng · to take care of oneself臂bì · arm鼻涕bítì · nasal mucus部位bùwèi · position残疾cánjí · disability喘气chuǎnqì · to pant动脉dòngmài · artery

FAQs

哺乳 (bǔrǔ) means “to breastfeed” or “to suckle”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it bǔrǔ: bǔ with a 3rd tone, then rǔ with a 3rd tone. In speech it sounds like búrǔ. When two third tones meet, the first one rises into a second tone. You still write it with two third tones. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 哺乳 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type buru with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 哺乳 from the suggestions. Typing buru into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
哺乳 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.