包
bāoBāo HSK1

wrap

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approved by Peter Olson · Apr 24, 2021, 03:51 PM · Reviewed by Peter Olson on Apr 24, 2021, 03:51 PM

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Original meaning: to embrace

Depicts a person (勹) hugging a child (子). Based on the original meaning "to embrace", now written as 抱. The meaning later shifted to "cover" and "wrap".

Components

勹
勹 SoundIconic component
bāo wrap

Depicts a person hugging. 勹 also represents the sound.

子
子 Iconic component
zi, zǐ child

Depicts a child. Modern form looks like 巳.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 子 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpaewpˤ<r>u wrap, bundle

說文解字

《說文》：“包，象人褢妊，巳在中，象子未成形也。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)