bāo
noun #30,472

Meanings

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

Examples

Huābāo hái méi kāifàng.
The flower buds haven't opened yet.
Yùmǐ bō qù wài bāo jiù néng zhǔle.
Once you peel off the outer husk, the corn is ready to cook.

Tips

usage
Most common in two compounds: (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). also means the protective husk on corn or grain, and rarely the calyx of a flower.
memory
Note the (grass/plant) radical — is fundamentally botanical. The phonetic (bāo, 'to wrap') gives both the sound and a mnemonic: a bud is leaves wrapped around a future flower.

Stroke Order

bāo