抱

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word 抱. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word 抱, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say 抱 in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word 抱 you have here. The definition of the word 抱 will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of抱, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
See also: 抔
抱 U+62B1, 抱
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-62B1
← 抰
 		CJK Unified Ideographs 抲 →
抱 U+2F8B5, 抱
CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-2F8B5
← 扝
 		CJK Compatibility Ideographs Supplement 拔 →

Translingual

Stroke order
8 strokes
Japanese 抱
Simplified 抱
Traditional 抱

Han character

抱 (Kangxi radical 64, 手+5, 8 strokes, cangjie input 手心口山 (QPRU), four-corner 57012, composition ⿰扌包)

  1. embrace, hold in arms, enfold

Derived characters

References

  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 423, character 8
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 11917
  • Dae Jaweon: page 771, character 7
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 1856, character 4
  • Unihan data for U+62B1

Chinese

simp. and trad.
 抱

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 抱
Warring States Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han) Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Qin slip script Small seal script Transcribed ancient scripts
Characters in the same phonetic series (勹) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
袍 *buː
袌 *buː, *buːs
軳 *buː
抱 *buːʔ
勽 *buːs, *mɯnʔ
菢 *buːs
勹 *pruː
包 *pruː
胞 *pruː, *pʰruː
苞 *pruː
枹 *pruː, *bu, *bu
飽 *pruːʔ
泡 *pʰruː, *m̥ʰruːs, *bruː
炮 *pʰruːs, *bruː
皰 *pʰruːs, *bruːs
疱 *pʰruːs, *bruːs
跑 *bruː, *bruːɡ
咆 *bruː
庖 *bruː
匏 *bruː
刨 *bruː
狍 *bruː
炰 *bruː
鉋 *bruː, *bruːs
瓟 *bruː, *bruːɡ
颮 *bruː, *pʰruːɡ
鞄 *bruː, *bruːʔ, *bruːs, *pʰruːɡ
鮑 *bruːʔ
骲 *bruːʔ, *bruːs, *bruːɡ, *pʰoːɡ
玸 *bu
雹 *bruːɡ
窇 *bruːɡ

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *buːʔ) : semantic 扌 + phonetic 包 (OC *pruː) – hold in one’s hands. Note that 包 has the meaning of “wrap”, hence connotations of “wrap in one’s hands, embrace”, thereby also making it an ideogrammic compound.

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *bəw (“to carry (on back or shoulders)”). Cognate with 保 (OC *puːʔ, “to protect, rear”), Manipuri ꯄꯨ (poo, “to carry”), Mizo (pu, “to carry (on the back / shoulders)”), Burmese ပိုး (pui:, “to carry on the back, add onto”) (STEDT).

Pronunciation

Note:
  • bou6 - equivalent to 菢;
  • paau1 - equivalent to 拋.
Note:
  • phǒ͘/phō - literary;
  • phǒ/phǎu/phāu/pǎu/pāu - vernacular;
  • pō - unknown dialect.
Rime
Character 抱
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 並 (3)
Final (韻) 豪 (89)
Tone (調) Rising (X)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) I
Fanqie 薄浩切
Baxter bawX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang 		/bɑuX/
Pan
Wuyun 		/bɑuX/
Shao
Rongfen 		/bɑuX/
Edwin
Pulleyblank 		/bawX/
Li
Rong 		/bɑuX/
Wang
Li 		/bɑuX/
Bernhard
Karlgren 		/bʱɑuX/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex 		bào
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex 		bou6
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 抱
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin) 		bào
Middle
Chinese 		‹ bawX ›
Old
Chinese 		/*ˁuʔ/
English carry in the arms

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. * as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 抱
Reading # 1/1
No. 268
Phonetic
component 		勹
Rime
group 		幽
Rime
subdivision 		1
Corresponding
MC rime 		抱
Old
Chinese 		/*buːʔ/

Definitions

抱

  1. to heft in the arms; to carry
  2. to hug; to embrace
  3. to incubate
  4. Classifier for things held or encircled with both arms (books, hay, firewood, trees, etc.).
  5. a surname

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 摟 (“to hug; to embrace”)
Variety Location Words
Classical Chinese 擁, 摟
Formal (Written Standard Chinese) 摟抱, 擁抱
Northeastern Mandarin Beijing 摟
Taiwan 摟, 抱
Singapore 擁抱, 抱
Jilu Mandarin Jinan 摟
Central Plains Mandarin Xi'an 摟
Southwestern Mandarin Chengdu 抱, 摟
Wuhan 箍, 摟
Jianghuai Mandarin Yangzhou 摟, 抱
Hefei 摟, 抱
Cantonese Guangzhou 攬
Hong Kong 攬
Taishan 攬
Singapore (Guangfu) 攬
Gan Nanchang 攬, 箍
Hakka Meixian 揇
Miaoli (N. Sixian) 揇
Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian) 揇
Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu) 揇
Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu) 揇
Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping) 揇
Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an) 攬
Jin Taiyuan 摟
Northern Min Jian'ou 抱
Eastern Min Fuzhou 兜, 攬
Matsu 攬
Southern Min Xiamen 攬
Quanzhou 攬
Zhangzhou 攬
Taipei 攬
Kaohsiung 攬
Penang (Hokkien) 攬
Singapore (Hokkien) 攬
Manila (Hokkien) 攬
Chaozhou 攬
Wu Shanghai 搿
Suzhou 搿
Wenzhou 搩
Xiang Changsha 箍, 摟
Shuangfeng 傘, 箍

Compounds

References

Japanese

Shinjitai 抱
Kyūjitai
[1]
抱󠄁
抱+&#xE0101;?
(Adobe-Japan1)
抱󠄃
抱+&#xE0103;?
(Hanyo-Denshi)
(Moji_Joho)
The displayed kanji may be different from the image due to your environment.
See here for details.

Kanji

抱

(Jōyō kanji)

  1. To embrace
  2. To carry, hold or bear

Readings

References

  1. ^ “抱”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎ (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2024

Korean

Hanja

抱 (eumhun 안을 포 (aneul po))

  1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Vietnamese

Han character

抱: Hán Nôm readings: bão

  1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.
Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia