亳 (Bó) · Bo (ancient capital of the Shang dynasty)

Meanings

1 Bo (ancient capital of the Shang dynasty)
2 Bozhou (city in Anhui)

Characters

亳

bó

Bo (ancient Shang capital); Bozhou

Examples

HSK 5

亳是商朝汤王建都的地方。

Bó shì Shāngcháo Tāng wáng jiàn dū de dìfang.

Bo was the capital where the Shang dynasty's King Tang established his rule.

HSK 7-9

安徽的亳州以中药市场出名。

Ānhuī de Bózhōu yǐ zhōngyào shìchǎng chūmíng.

Bozhou in Anhui is famous for its traditional Chinese medicine market.

Tips

mistakes

亳 (with a 乇 bottom) is easily confused with 毫 ('fine hair; a tiny amount', as in 毫米 'millimeter'), which has a 毛 bottom. Different bottom, different sound, different meaning.

Components

ideograph

亠 tóu

lid; top stroke

亠 is the abstract 'lid' top, a dot over a horizontal stroke. It caps the character and is the Kangxi index radical for 亳.

semantic

口 kǒu

mouth; opening

口 ('mouth; enclosure') sits below the lid. Combined with the lid above it echoes the upper half of 京 ('capital'), fitting for a place-name character.

semantic

冖 mì

cover

冖 is the 'cover' top of the lower block, a flat roof-like stroke sitting over 乇.

phonetic

乇 tuō

leaf stem (phonetic element)

乇 forms the bottom and historically nudged the sound; in modern Mandarin the reading bó has drifted well away from it. It mainly distinguishes 亳 from the lookalike 毫.

In Pop Culture

亳州 Bózhōu

Bozhou

City in northwest Anhui, an ancient Shang capital and hometown of warlord Cao Cao. Today it runs one of China's largest traditional-medicine wholesale markets.