寶

寶 (Kangxi radical 40, 宀+17, 20 strokes, cangjie input 十一山金 (JMUC), four-corner 3080₆, composition ⿱𡩧貝)

• 𪴥, 𬎞, 軉, 𨰰, 𫘄, 䴐, 𧅤, 𩇉, 𦈆, 𫴫

• 宝 (Japanese shinjitai and simplified Chinese)

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 293, character 12
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 7376
• Dae Jaweon: page 579, character 32
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 958, character 3
• Unihan data for U+5BF6

Historical forms of the character 寶
Shang	Western Zhou
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions

Oracle bone script: Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 宀 (“house”) + 𤣩 (“jade”) + 貝 (“cowry”) – treasures in a house.

The phonetic component 缶 (OC *puʔ) was added to the character in bronze inscriptions.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *pəw (“price”); cognate with Burmese အဖိုး (a.hpui:, “price”) (Schuessler, 2007; STEDT). Peiros and Starostin (1996) also compares it to Tibetan སྤུས (spus, “goods”). Sagart (1999) relates it to 富 (OC *pɯɡs, “rich”). Schuessler (2007) proposes that it could be the same word as 保 (OC *puːʔ, “to take care of; to consider something precious”).

寶

1. treasure; riches; valuables; precious thing

   執到寶／执到宝 [Cantonese]  ―  zap¹ dou³ bou²   ―  to have obtained something wonderful

   • 天地之大德曰生，聖人之大寶曰位。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
     天地之大德曰生，圣人之大宝曰位。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: I Ching, 11^th – 8^th century BCE

     Tiāndì zhī dàdé yuē shēng, shèngrén zhī dàbǎo yuē wèi.

     The great attribute of heaven and earth is the giving and maintaining life. What is most precious for the sage is to get the place - .

   • 宋人或得玉，獻諸子罕，子罕弗受。獻玉者曰：「以示玉人，玉人以為寶也，故敢獻之。」
     子罕曰：「我以不貪為寶，爾以玉為寶，若以與我，皆喪寶也。」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     宋人或得玉，献诸子罕，子罕弗受。献玉者曰：「以示玉人，玉人以为宝也，故敢献之。」
     子罕曰：「我以不贪为宝，尔以玉为宝，若以与我，皆丧宝也。」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Commentary of Zuo, c. 4^th century BCE

     Sòng rén huò dé yù, xiàn zhū Zǐhǎn, Zǐhǎn fú shòu. Xiàn yù zhě yuē: “Yǐ shì yùrén, yùrén yǐwèi bǎo yě, gù gǎn xiàn zhī.”
     Zǐhǎn yuē: “Wǒ yǐ bù tān wèi bǎo, ěr yǐ yù wèi bǎo, ruò yǐ yǔ wǒ, jiē sàng bǎo yě.”

     Someone in Song had obtained a jade, which he presented to Zihan. Zihan would not accept it. The one presenting the jade said, "I have shown it to the jade workers, and they believe that it is a treasure. Therefore I presume to present it to you."
     Zihan said, "I consider not being greedy as a treasure; you consider the jade a treasure. If you give it to me, both of us will lose our treasures."

   • 勤為無價之寶，慎是護身之符。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     勤为无价之宝，慎是护身之符。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Mingxin baojian, 1393

     Qín wèi wújià zhī bǎo, shèn shì hùshēn zhī fú.

     Diligence is a priceless treasure; prudence is a protective talisman.

2. to treasure; to cherish
3. to collect (treasures)
4. treasured; cherished
5. precious; valuable
6. (historical) jade token
7. term of respect, for things related to the emperor, to Buddhism, to Taoism, or to other people
8. (term of endearment) darling; baby; dear
9. (gambling) a kind of gambling device
10. a surname: Bao
11. (Sichuanese) foolish; silly; stupid

• “寶”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

(Hyōgai kanji, kyūjitai kanji, shinjitai form 宝)

Kyūjitai form of 宝

1. precious objects
2. worldly goods
3. valuable possessions

• Go-on: ほう (hō)
• Kan-on: ほう (hō)
• Kan’yō-on: ほ (ho)
• Kun: たから (takara, 寶)

寶 (eumhun 보배 보 (bobae bo))

1. hanja form^? of 보 (“treasure; riches; valuables; precious thing”)

• 보물 (寶物, bomul, “treasure”)
• 국보 (國寶, gukbo, “national treasure”)

寶: Hán Nôm readings: bảo, báu, bửu

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