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泡

pāo / pào
adjective #2,230

Meanings

  1. 1 puffed; spongy; swollen
  2. 2 (measure word) classifier for bouts of urine or feces
  3. 3 small lake (in northeastern place names)

Examples

他睡醒后眼泡肿肿的。
Tā shuì xǐng hòu yǎnpāo zhǒng zhǒng de.
His upper eyelids were puffy after waking up.
这种馒头蒸得很泡。
Zhè zhǒng mántou zhēng de hěn pāo.
These steamed buns are nice and spongy.
泡桐树长得很快。
Pāotóng shù zhǎng de hěn kuài.
Paulownia trees grow very fast.

Tips

usage
The pāo reading is much rarer than pào (this is the alternate reading). It describes a light, hollow, puffed-up quality — air-filled rather than dense. Found in 泡桐 (Paulownia, a tree with light spongy wood), 眼泡 (puffy upper eyelid), and in the northeastern dialect compound 尿泡 (bladder). In place names of Jilin and Heilongjiang, 泡 can also mean a small lake.
mistakes
Don't confuse with 泡 (the everyday reading — soak, brew, bubble). The two readings cover different semantic territory: pào is verbal action and the round shape of a bubble; pāo describes a light puffy texture. If you see 泡 in 泡茶 or 泡沫 that's the main reading; pāo only kicks in for the specific puffy/spongy compounds.

Components

radical
氵 shuǐ
water (left-side radical)
Three-drop water radical on the left — the side-form of 水. Marks 泡 as a water-related word: bubbles in water, soaking something in liquid, brewing tea. Same family as 沫 foam, 浸 to soak, 滴 a drop.
phonetic
包 bāo
to wrap; bundle
Right side 包 supplies the sound (bāo → pào, regular b/p drift plus tone shift). 包 itself depicts a fetus wrapped inside a womb — the original sense was 'wrapping, enclosing.' That image fits beautifully here: a 泡 is a thin film of water wrapped around a pocket of air. Same phonetic in 抱 hug, 跑 run, 饱 full.

Stroke Order

泡 pāo