苞 (bāo) · bud (of a flower), calyx, lush, profuse

Meanings

1 bud (of a flower)
2 calyx
3 lush, profuse

Characters

苞

bāo

bud, calyx; lush

Examples

HSK 5

花苞还没开放。

Huābāo hái méi kāifàng.

The flower buds haven't opened yet.

HSK 7-9

玉米剥去外苞就能煮了。

Yùmǐ bō qù wài bāo jiù néng zhǔ le.

Once you peel off the outer husk, the corn is ready to cook.

Tips

usage

Most common in two compounds: 花苞 (huābāo, 'flower bud') and 含苞待放 (hánbāo dàifàng, 'in bud, about to bloom' - a classic chengyu also used metaphorically for a young woman just coming of age). 苞 also means the protective husk on corn or grain, and rarely the calyx of a flower. In classical writing it can also mean 'lush' or 'luxuriant'.

memory

Note the 艹 (grass/plant) radical - 苞 is fundamentally botanical. The phonetic 包 (bāo, 'to wrap') gives both the sound and a mnemonic: a bud is leaves wrapped around a future flower.

Components

radical

艹 cǎo

grass; plant (top radical)

Top grass radical (3-stroke compressed form of 艸) - the indexing radical. Marks 苞 as botanical, putting it among 花 flower, 草 grass, 苗 sprout, 茎 stem. A bud is the wrapped beginning of a flower, hence the natural fit with the grass radical.

phonetic

包 bāo

wrap; bundle

Bottom 包 supplies the sound bāo (exact match) and reinforces the meaning: a bud is a wrapped, enclosed package - petals folded over each other like a parcel. Same phonetic family: 抱 hug, 泡 bubble, 跑 run, 炮 cannon. The 'enclose / contain' imagery here is etymologically motivated, not accidental.