保 (bǎo) · to protect, to keep, to guarantee

Meanings

1 to protect
2 to keep
3 to guarantee

Characters

保

bǎo

protect; keep; maintain

Contains 亻 (person) + 呆 - a person sheltering/protecting.

Examples

HSK 2

你要保好自己的东西。

Nǐ yào bǎo hǎo zìjǐ de dōngxi.

You should keep your belongings safe.

HSK 3

这个药可以保你三天不感冒。

Zhège yào kěyǐ bǎo nǐ sān tiān bù gǎnmào.

This medicine can keep you cold-free for three days.

HSK 5

保质期是三个月。

Bǎozhìqī shì sān gè yuè.

The shelf life is three months.

Tips

usage

保 rarely stands alone in modern Chinese. It's mostly used as part of compound words: 保护 (protect), 保证 (guarantee), 保持 (maintain), 保险 (insurance), 保安 (security guard).

Components

radical

亻 rén

person (radical form of 人)

Left-side person radical - the indexing radical, side-form of 人. Sets the human-protector frame for 保: an adult person guarding, sheltering, taking care of someone or something. Same family of human-action verbs: 住 (reside), 你 (you), 信 (trust), 仁 (benevolence).

semantic

呆 dāi

dumb; to stay; (here: a child)

Right-side 呆 - historically not 呆 'dumb' but a stylized picture of a swaddled baby: upper 口 was the head and lower 木 the body and limbs. The compound depicts an adult cradling a child = 'to protect'. The bundled-baby etymology drives every modern sense of 保 (保护 protect, 保持 preserve).