坡 meaning and stroke order
Slope; sloping; slanted
How to write 坡, stroke by stroke
8 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
- 1
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- 8
Meaning of 坡
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- slope
- sloping
- slanted
How 坡 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Earth.
土 gives the meaning and 皮 hints at the sound.
Radical: 土 (soil), shared by 183 characters on this site.
How to remember 坡
坡 is earth 土 (tǔ) on the left with 皮 (pí) on the right. Picture the earth's skin 皮 stretched over a hill, tilting down into a slope. 皮 also hints at the sound.
坡 usually appears in compounds like 山坡 (shānpō, hillside), 斜坡 (xiépō, incline) and 上坡/下坡 (shàngpō/xiàpō, uphill/downhill). Example: 骑车下坡要慢一点。(Qí chē xiàpō yào màn yìdiǎn.) Go slowly when riding downhill.
Common mistake: Learners often read 坡 as pí because of the 皮 component, but it is pō in the first tone. Do not confuse it with 波 (bō, wave), which has the water radical 氵 instead of 土.
Common words with 坡
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
坡 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 坡
How many strokes are in 坡?
坡 is written with 8 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 坡 mean?
坡 (pō) means slope; sloping; slanted. A common word with it is 山坡 (shānpō), meaning "hillside".
How do you pronounce 坡?
坡 is pronounced pō, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 坡?
The radical of 坡 is 土, which carries the idea of "soil". Dictionaries list 坡 under this radical.
Is 坡 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 坡 is part of the HSK 6 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
What does 上坡 and 下坡 mean figuratively?
Besides uphill and downhill, 走下坡路 (zǒu xiàpōlù) means to go downhill in life or business, to decline. For example, 他的成绩在走下坡路 means his grades are getting worse.
Why is Singapore written 新加坡?
新加坡 (Xīnjiāpō) is a sound transliteration of Singapore, and 坡 is used only for its pō sound there. In casual speech Singaporeans sometimes even call the city 坡 or 星洲.