魄 (pò): soul

Meanings

1 soul
2 mortal soul
3 vigor
4 spirit

Characters

魄

pò

soul; spirit; vigor

Examples

他被吓得魂飞魄散。

Tā bèi xià de húnfēipòsàn.

He was so frightened his soul scattered.

这首曲子有一种摄人心魄的力量。

Zhè shǒu qǔzi yǒu yī zhǒng shè rénxīn pò de lìliang.

This piece of music has a soul-captivating power.

Tips

culture

In traditional Chinese philosophy, a person has two types of soul: 魂 (hún, ethereal soul that ascends after death) and 魄 (pò, corporeal soul tied to the body). Together 魂魄 means the complete soul.

usage

Rarely used alone. Most common in compounds: 气魄 (qìpò, boldness), 魂魄 (húnpò, soul), 魄力 (pòlì, courage/daring), 落魄 (luòpò, down and out).

Components

radical

鬼 guǐ

ghost; spirit

鬼 (ghost / spirit) is the indexing radical. In Chinese folk metaphysics a person has two souls: the cloud-soul 魂 that floats off at death and the bodily soul 魄 that stays with the corpse — both written with the ghost radical. 魂魄 (húnpò) names the pair.

phonetic

白 bái

white

白 (bái) supplies the sound, drifted to pò. There's a quiet semantic flavour too: the 魄 was traditionally the moonlight-pale soul of a person (as opposed to 魂, the cloud-like wandering soul), so the white element fits. Same phonetic series: 拍, 泊, 伯, 帕.