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verb #9,020

Meanings

  1. 1 to anchor; to moor (a boat)
  2. 2 to park (a vehicle)

Examples

HSK 1
Zhèlǐ kěyǐ bó chē ma?
Can I park here?
HSK 6
Chuán bó zài gǎngkǒu.
The boat is moored in the harbor.
HSK 6
Nà sōu chuán tíngbó zài mǎtou.
That ship is moored at the dock.

Tips

mistakes
Two readings, two different words. bó is the verb: a boat at a harbour, a car at the kerb. The noun meaning lake is pō, the reading inside 湖泊.
usage
In Hong Kong and Cantonese-speaking areas 泊车 is the ordinary word for parking; mainland standard usage prefers 停车. The same bó sits in 淡泊, living plainly and without ambition, where the picture is a boat lying still.

Components

radical
shuǐ
water
Three water drops on the left - the side-form of - mark as something to do with water. It anchors the boat-mooring sense and groups with , , , the wider water-body and water-action family.
phonetic
bái
white; bright
Lends its sound, drifting from bái to bó. It heads a small phonetic series including , and that all share the sound stem. The white meaning is unrelated to mooring boats.

Stroke Order