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保

Mandarin · pinyin bǎo#

to defend; to protect; to keep
to guarantee; to ensure
(old) civil administration unit in the baojia 保甲 bǎo jiǎ system

Mandarin · pinyin Bǎo#

Bulgaria (abbr. for 保加利亞 Bǎo jiā lì yà)

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Characters in this entry

保: bǎo · protect, safeguard, defend, care

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3 · bao3

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1character link17same-tone records1source reference

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

bou2

Cantonese word readings for 保. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

character

to raise; to rear
to keep; to maintain
to protect; to safeguard; to defend
to ensure; to guarantee
guarantor
(abbreviation, alt-of) short for 保釋／保释 (bǎoshì, “to bail”)
(historical) an ancient Chinese administrative unit, consisting of 100 households
a surname, Bao

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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