菠 (bō): spinach (bound form)

Meanings

1 spinach (bound form)
2 (in compounds) leafy green vegetable

Characters

菠

bō

spinach (bound form)

Examples

菠菜含铁丰富。

Bōcài hán tiě fēngfù.

Spinach is rich in iron.

她在汤里加了点菠菜。

Tā zài tāng lǐjiā le diǎn bōcài.

She added some spinach to the soup.

Tips

usage

菠 rarely stands alone; it almost always appears in compounds like 菠菜 (bōcài, spinach) or 菠萝 (bōluó, pineapple). Learn the compounds, not the bare character.

memory

菠 = grass radical 艹 over 波 (bō, wave). Picture spinach leaves rippling like waves — and 波 also gives you the sound.

Components

radical

艹 cǎo

grass; plant (top radical)

Top grass radical (3-stroke compressed form of 艸) — the indexing radical, putting 菠 in the botanical family with 花 flower, 草 grass, 茶 tea, 苹 apple. All edible leafy greens hang under this canopy. 菠菜 spinach, 菠萝 pineapple.

phonetic

波 bō

wave (here phonetic)

Bottom 波 supplies the sound — bō carried over without change. 波 itself means "wave" (氵 water + 皮 skin), and that "ripple" image fits transliterations like 菠萝 (pineapple, originally a phonetic loan from Sanskrit "ananas") where 菠 functions almost purely phonetically rather than for botanical content.