HSK 4 · Verbs

抱 bào “to hold” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 抱 means

  1. to hold
  2. to carry (in one’s arms)
  3. to hug
  4. to embrace
  5. to surround
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • to cherish

How to say 抱

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale抱bào4th tone, falling

抱 in a sentence

  1. 她抱了他。

    Tā bào le tā.

    She hugged him.

    Sentence #8215704 from Tatoeba

  2. 我抱不起他。

    Wǒ bào bu qǐ tā.

    I can’t pick him up.

    Sentence #5085549 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 我只想抱你。

    Wǒ zhǐ xiǎng bào nǐ.

    I just want to hold you.

    Sentence #2635146 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 抱 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 抱 (bào) with each of its parts in a different colour
抱bàoto hold
  • 扌hand form of 手 · shǒu
  • 包wrap · bāo

How to write 抱

抱 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 抱

Words with 抱

抱歉bàoqiàn · to be sorry拥抱yōngbào · to embrace抱怨bàoyuàn · to complain抱负bàofù · aspiration

More words: Common Verbs

干gàn · to do安排ānpái · to arrange保护bǎohù · to protect报名bàomíng · to sign up遍biàn · measure word for times (start to finish)不管bùguǎn · not to be concerned擦cā · to wipe参观cānguān · to look around

FAQs

抱 (bào) means “to hold” or “to carry (in one’s arms)”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it bào: bào with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 抱 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type bao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 抱 from the suggestions. Typing bao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
抱 is an HSK 4 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.