HSK 6 · Adjectives

薄弱 bóruò “weak” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 薄弱 means

  1. weak
  2. frail

How to say 薄弱

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale薄bó2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale弱ruò4th tone, falling

薄弱 in a sentence

  1. 我的听力比较薄弱。

    Wǒ de tīnglì bǐjiào bóruò.

    My listening is quite weak.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 这个学生数学基础薄弱。

    Zhè ge xuésheng shùxué jīchǔ bóruò.

    This student has a weak foundation in maths.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 薄弱 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 薄 (báo) with each of its parts in a different colour
薄bómeager
  • 艹grass form of 艸 · cǎoMeaning part
  • 溥big · pǔSound part

艹 hints at the meaning (grass); 溥 (pǔ) hints at the sound. Compare it with bó.

The character 弱 (ruò) with each of its parts in a different colour
弱ruòweak; feeble
  • 弓bow · gōng
  • 冫ice · bīng
  • 弓bow · gōng
  • 冫ice · bīng

How to write 薄弱

薄 16 strokes · 弱 10 strokes

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

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

Words related to 薄弱

Words with 薄

薄báo · thin

Words with 弱

弱ruò · weak削弱xuēruò · to weaken脆弱cuìruò · fragile弱点ruòdiǎn · weakness

More words: Adjectives

别扭bièniu · awkward别致biézhì · unique闭塞bìsè · isolated博大精深bódàjīngshēn · broad and profound (of knowledge or culture)不可思议bùkěsīyì · unimaginable不像话búxiànghuà · unreasonable不相上下bùxiāngshàngxià · equally matched苍白cāngbái · pale

FAQs

薄弱 (bóruò) means “weak” or “frail”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it bóruò: bó with a 2nd tone, then ruò with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 薄弱 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type boruo with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 薄弱 from the suggestions. Typing boruo into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
薄弱 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 written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.