玻 meaning and stroke order
Glass
How to write 玻, stroke by stroke
9 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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- 5
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- 9
Meaning of 玻
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- see 玻璃[bo1 li5]
How 玻 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Jade.
王 gives the meaning and 皮 hints at the sound.
Radical: 王 (king), shared by 104 characters on this site.
How to remember 玻
玻 is pictophonetic: the left part 王 is the jade component, hinting at something hard and shiny, and the right part 皮 (pí) gives the sound. Think of glass as a thin shiny 'skin' (皮) that looks like jade.
玻 almost never appears alone. It lives in the word 玻璃 (bōli, glass) and in words built from it, like 玻璃杯 (bōlibēi, drinking glass) and 挡风玻璃 (dǎngfēngbōli, windshield). Example: 这个玻璃杯很漂亮。 (Zhège bōlibēi hěn piàoliang.) This glass is very pretty.
Common mistake: Learners often write 波 (bō, wave) or 坡 (pō, slope) instead, since they share the 皮 part; only 玻 takes the jade side 王. Also note the tone is first tone bō, not pí like its sound component.
Common words with 玻
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
玻 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 玻
How many strokes are in 玻?
玻 is written with 9 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 玻 mean?
玻 (bō) means glass. A common word with it is 玻璃 (bōli), meaning "glass; (slang) male homosexual".
How do you pronounce 玻?
玻 is pronounced bō, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 玻?
The radical of 玻 is 王, which carries the idea of "king". Dictionaries list 玻 under this radical.
Is 玻 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 玻 is part of the HSK 5 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
Is 玻璃 the word for a drinking glass?
玻璃 means glass as a material. For a cup made of glass, say 玻璃杯 (bōlibēi), or just 杯子 (bēizi) for a cup in general.
Why is 璃 in 玻璃 pronounced with a neutral tone?
In everyday Mandarin 玻璃 is usually read bōli, with 璃 light and toneless. In careful speech you may hear bōlí, but the neutral tone is the standard dictionary reading.