bo

fortune telling

Pictograph of a crack on a bone. In ancient China such cracks were used for fortune-telling.

Evolution

卜 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
卜 Bronze script Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)

Bronze script

Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)
卜 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
卜 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
卜 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

 

bo

fortune telling; prophesy

 

surname Bu

 

to divine; to forecast or estimate; (of a place to live etc) to choose

() 

bo

see 蘿蔔|萝卜[luó​bo]

Most common words with 卜
Freq.
Word
Meaning

胡萝卜

carrot

CL:條|条[tiáo]

萝卜

CL:條|条[tiáo]

占卜

to divine

胡萝卜素

carotene

Component uses

Meaning component in 3 characters (2 verified)

Sound component in 10 characters (3 verified)

Iconic component in 3 characters (3 verified)

Simplified component in 2 characters (2 verified)

Unknown component in 1 character (0 verified)

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*pˤok

puwk

divine (v.)


Statistics

Not found in HSK word list

Appears in 5.4621% of movies

2209th most common character in movies

1979th most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

2

Unicode

U+535C

Shuowen

“卜,灼剥龜也。象灸龜之形。一曰象龜兆之從橫也。,古文卜。”


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