保

Han character

保 (radical 9, 人+7, 9 strokes, cangjie input 人口木 (ORD), four-corner 2629₄, composition ⿰亻呆)

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 保
Shang	Western Zhou	Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Chu Slip and silk script	Small seal script
Oracle bone script j18772 j18773 j18774 j18775 j18776 j18777 j18778 j18779 j18780 j18781 j18782 j18783 j18784 j18785 j18786 j18787 j18788 j18789 j18790 j18791 j18792 j18793 j18794 j18795 Bronze inscriptions b12171 b12172 b12173 b12174 b12175 b12176 b12177 b12178 b12179 b12180 b12181 b12182 b12183 b12184 b12185 b12186 b12187 b12188 b12189 b12191 b12192 b12193 b12194 b12195 b12196 b12197 b12198 b12199 b12200 b12201 b12202 b12203 b12204 b12205 b12206 b12207 b12208 b12209 b12210 b12211 b12212 b12213 b12214 b12215 b12216 b12217 b12218 b12219 b12220 b12221 b12222 b12223 b12224 b12225 b12226 b12227 b12228 b12229 b12230 b12231 b12232 b12233 b12234 b12235 b12236 b12237 b12238 b12239 b12240 b12241 Small seal script s05653 s05654 s05655 Transcribed ancient scripts L34905 L34906 L34907 L34908 L34909 L16820 L16821 L16822 L16823 L16824 L16825 L16826 L16827 L16828 L16829 L16830 L16831 L16832 L16833
References: Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation), which in turn draws data from various collections of ancient forms of Chinese characters, including: Shuowen Jiezi (small seal), Jinwen Bian (bronze inscriptions), Liushutong (Liushutong characters) and Yinxu Jiaguwen Bian (oracle bone script).

In the oracle script, this character was an ideogrammic compound (會意) : 人 (“person”) + 子 (“child”) – a person carrying a child on the back; to carry (a child) > to protect.

In early bronze inscriptions, 爪 (“hand”) was added to the person to emphasize that the person was carrying the child. This was later simplified into one or two strokes. The current form has two.

Pronunciation

Definitions

保

1. to raise; to rear
2. to keep; to maintain
3. to protect; to safeguard; to defend

   • 你要保大還是保小？ [MSC, trad.]
     你要保大还是保小？ [MSC, simp.]

     Nǐ yào bǎo dà háishì bǎo xiǎo? [Pinyin]

     Do you want to save the mother (“the big one”) or the baby (“the small one”)? (a common line in obstetrics-themed dramas)

4. to ensure; to guarantee
5. guarantor
6. Short for 保釋／保释 (bǎoshì, “to bail”).
7. (historical) bao (a unit of the ancient administrative system, consisting of some 100 households)

Compounds

Kanji

(grade 5 “Kyōiku” kanji)

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Proper noun

保 (hiragana たもつ, rōmaji Tamotsu)

1. A male given name

Hanja

保 • (bo) (hangeul 보, revised bo, McCune–Reischauer po)

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Han character

保 (bảo, bầu, bửu)

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