厚薄

Mandarin · pinyin hòu báo#

Meanings · hòu báo

  1. thickness
  2. also pr. hòu bó
Mandarin · pinyin hòu bó#

Meanings · hòu bó

  1. to favor one and discriminate against the other (abbr. for 厚此薄彼 hòu cǐ bó bǐ)
Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

厚
hòu · thick; substantial; greatly
薄
báo · bó · thin, slight, weak; poor, stingy
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

4–2 · hou4 bao2

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

2character links
Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗
Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

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.

厚薄 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

noun

  1. thick and thin
  2. (figurative) degree of thickness
  3. (figurative) favour or disfavour; meanness and generosity; intimacy and alienation

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

厚薄 · hou4 bao2 · hou4 bo2
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source lines 17,890, 17,891
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source records厚薄 厚薄 [hou4 bao2] /thickness/also pr. [hou4 bo2]/厚薄 厚薄 [hou4 bo2] /to favor one and discriminate against the other (abbr. for 厚此薄彼[hou4 ci3 bo2 bi3])/