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泡

pāo / pào
adjective #2,230

Meanings

  1. 1 puffed; spongy; swollen
  2. 2 (measure word) classifier for bouts of urine or feces
  3. 3 small lake (in northeastern place names)

Examples

HSK 6
他睡醒后眼泡肿肿的。
Tā shuì xǐng hòu yǎnpāo zhǒng zhǒng de.
His upper eyelids were puffy after waking up.
HSK 7-9
这种馒头蒸得很泡。
Zhè zhǒng mántou zhēng de hěn pāo.
These steamed buns are nice and spongy.
HSK 7-9
泡桐树长得很快。
Pāotóng shù zhǎng de hěn kuài.
Paulownia trees grow very fast.

Tips

usage
The pāo reading is much rarer than pào (this is the alternate reading). It describes a light, hollow, puffed-up quality - air-filled rather than dense. Found in 泡桐 (Paulownia, a tree with light spongy wood), 眼泡 (puffy upper eyelid), and in the northeastern dialect compound 尿泡 (bladder). In place names of Jilin and Heilongjiang, 泡 can also mean a small lake.
mistakes
Don't confuse with 泡 (the everyday reading - soak, brew, bubble). The two readings cover different semantic territory: pào is verbal action and the round shape of a bubble; pāo describes a light puffy texture. If you see 泡 in 泡茶 or 泡沫 that's the main reading; pāo only kicks in for the specific puffy/spongy compounds.

Components

radical
氵 shuǐ
water (left-side radical)
Three-drop water radical on the left - the side-form of 水. Marks 泡 as a water-related word: bubbles in water, soaking something in liquid, brewing tea. Same family as 沫 foam, 浸 to soak, 滴 a drop.
phonetic
包 bāo
to wrap; bundle
Right side 包 supplies the sound (bāo → pào, regular b/p drift plus tone shift). 包 itself depicts a fetus wrapped inside a womb - the original sense was 'wrapping, enclosing.' That image fits beautifully here: a 泡 is a thin film of water wrapped around a pocket of air. Same phonetic in 抱 hug, 跑 run, 饱 full.

Stroke Order

泡 pāo