褒 (bāo): to praise

Meanings

1 to praise
2 to commend
3 to honor
4 (archaic, of clothing) loose, flowing, generous

Characters

褒

bāo

to praise; loose-fitting

Examples

他的工作受到上级的褒奖。

Tā de gōngzuò shòudào shàngjí de bāojiǎng.

His work received commendation from his superiors.

这个词是褒义的，不是贬义。

Zhège cí shì bāoyì de, búshì biǎnyì.

This word has a positive connotation, not a negative one.

Tips

usage

On its own 褒 is literary; in modern use it almost only appears in compounds, especially the antonym pair 褒贬 (bāobiǎn, 'praise and disparagement') and the linguistics terms 褒义词 (bāoyìcí, 'word with positive connotation') vs 贬义词 (biǎnyìcí, 'word with negative connotation'). Knowing this pair is essential for talking about word choice.

memory

The 衣 (yī, 'clothing') component on the outside hints at the original meaning — 'large, flowing robes' (褒衣博带), the dress of Confucian scholars. From 'roomy clothes' the meaning extended to 'large/generous treatment of someone', then to 'praise' specifically.

Components

radical

衣 yī

clothing; garment

The clothing radical 衣 wraps the outside of 褒 — top stroke and the lower-flowing cloth-folds belong to it, with the inner element tucked between them. Originally 褒 named a loose, wide-sleeved robe; from the imagery of a generous, gathering garment came the modern senses 'to praise, extol, commend' (褒奖 commendation).

phonetic

保 bǎo

to protect (here phonetic)

Inside the cloth wrap sits 保 — supplying the sound bǎo → bāo, a tone shift only. 保 itself shows 亻 a person plus 呆 holding-a-child (originally 子 'child'). Faint semantic boost too: praising someone is a kind of social protection, holding them up before others. The traditional phonetic was 保 unchanged.