薄 báo thin
thin; slight; weak
How to remember 薄: 艹 grass + 氵 water + 尃 to announce = thin. At the picnic on the grass, dad adds water to the pancake batter, then claps to announce that today's pancakes will be extra thin.
Component breakdown
形声 · Meaning + sound
One part gives the meaning, the other gives the sound.
薄 = 艹 grass + 溥 vast
- 艹 grass meaning
- 溥 vast sound
- 氵 water
- 尃 to announce
At the picnic on the grass, dad adds water to the pancake batter, then claps to announce that today's pancakes will be extra thin.
How it came to be
Grass gives the meaning and the part below it the sound, both already there in the small seal form.
How it is used
- 薄 is polyphonic: báo describes literal physical thinness (纸很薄 zhǐ hěn báo, the paper is thin; 衣服穿得太薄 too thin clothing), while bó is used in abstract, more formal compounds.
- 薄弱 bóruò (weak, e.g. 基础薄弱 weak foundation) and 单薄 dānbó (thin/flimsy, of a body, argument, or clothing in a literary sense) both use the bó reading.
- As an antonym pair, 薄 báo contrasts with 厚 hòu (thick) the same way 'thin' contrasts with 'thick' in English.
Words with 薄
Example sentences
- 与薄相对的是厚。 Yǔ báo xiāngduì de shì hòu.Thin is the opposite of thick.