“Bo” in Traditional Chinese Characters |

This video introduces traditional Chinese characters pronounced “Bo” as written in the Pinyin romanization system. (Another system spells it "bwo"). They are all first tone today, but the last bo(1) 播 can also be pronounced with a fourth tone depending on the compound term it is found in.

波 “wave” has the water radical. However, the character is also used in non-water wave terms such as brain waves, sound waves, etc.

玻 “glass” is made by replacing the “water” radical with a “king” radical. To recall the components and meaning when you wish to write the character, the "king's" "skin" is often protected by bulletproof glass.

菠 “spinach” has the “water” radical on the left and the “grass” radical on top. Spinach does require frequent waterings.

剝 “peel” features a “knife” radical on the right side. Without it, the remaining character would be “lu(4)” meaning “to carve wood,” which seems to make sense semantically. One word that my high school students here in Taiwan have fun with is 剝削 bo(1)xue(1) “exploit” because it sounds like the word “bullshit” in English!

撥 “dial” also “to stir, poke, twist or turn” as well as “to appropriate money” and has a “hand” radical in front of “fa (1)” meaning to “let out” which we will get to again in a future video.

播 “sow” or “broadcast” also utilizes the “hand” radical. It has a base component of “fan(1)” meaning “aboriginal.” This bo(1) can also be fourth tone depending on what it’s paired with.

薄 “peppermint” is also fourth tone, but I will get to that one in the next video (Bo Part 2) since it shares a component with several second tone bo (2).

The rest of the video shows a recent restaurant discovery near my home of Changhua, Taiwan. Please “like” & subscribe for more videos about Chinese traditional characters as well as adventures in Taiwan. I also do the occasional gear review if you are into running and hiking.

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