卜 (bǔ): to divine; to forecast

Meanings

1 to divine; to forecast
2 to select (a site)
3 Bu/Pu

Characters

卜

bǔ

to divine; to forecast

Examples

HSK 7-9

古人用龟甲来占卜。

Gǔrén yòng guījiǎ lái zhānbǔ.

Ancient people used tortoise shells for divination.

HSK 7-9

生死未卜。

Shēngsǐ-wèibǔ.

Whether alive or dead is still unknown.

HSK 7-9

他的前途未卜。

Tā de qiántú wèibǔ.

His future is uncertain.

Tips

history

卜 is one of the oldest Chinese characters - it depicts the cracks in heated oracle bones used for divination in the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 BC). The vertical stroke is the bone, the short stroke is the crack.

usage

As a surname, 卜 is pronounced bǔ. It appears in the common word 萝卜 (luóbo, radish), where it's pronounced bo with a neutral tone.

Components

pictograph

卜 bǔ

to divine; foretell

Self-pictograph and Kangxi radical 25 in just two strokes. Depicts the crack pattern left on a heated tortoise shell or ox scapula during oracle-bone divination - the vertical break and the horizontal branching crack. Diviners read these splits to foretell fortune, the original meaning preserved in 占卜 (divination), 卜卦 (cast a hexagram). Atomic; not analyzable into sub-components.

Radical

Divination Kangxi #25

The 卜 radical, pictographic of cracks in a heated oracle bone. A small but historically loaded class - 卡, 占, 卢, 卦 - that ties characters back to Shang-dynasty divination practice. Low productivity in modern coining; mainly relevant for lookup of compound forms.