保

保 (Kangxi radical 9, 人+7, 9 strokes, cangjie input 人口木 (ORD), four-corner 2629₄, composition ⿰亻呆)

• 堢, 媬, 㨐, 湺, 椺, 褓, 緥, 䭋, 䳰, 堡, 煲, 㷛, 賲, 葆, 褒

• Japanese: ほ, ホ

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 105, character 17
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 702
• Dae Jaweon: page 222, character 6
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 160, character 4
• Unihan data for U+4FDD

In the oracle script, this character was an ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意): 人 (“person”) + 子 (“child”) – a person carrying a child on his back; to carry (a child) > to protect. See also 好.

In early bronze inscriptions, 爪 (“hand”) was added to the person to emphasize that the person was carrying the child. This was later simplified into one or two strokes. The current form has two.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *puʔ (“to carry (on back or shoulders)”). Cognate with 抱 (OC *buːʔ, “to heft, hug”); see there for more (STEDT).

保

1. to raise; to rear
2. to keep; to maintain
3. to protect; to safeguard; to defend

   你要保大還是保小？ [MSC, trad.]
   你要保大还是保小？ [MSC, simp.]

   Nǐ yào bǎo dà háishì bǎo xiǎo? [Pinyin]

   Do you want to save the mother (“the big one”) or the baby (“the small one”)? (a common line in obstetrics-themed dramas)

4. to ensure; to guarantee
5. guarantor
6. short for 保釋／保释 (bǎoshì, “to bail”)
7. (historical) bao (a unit of the ancient administrative system, consisting of some 100 households)
8. a surname, Bao

• (to raise):

• (to keep):

• (to protect):

• (to ensure):

• (guarantor):

• “保”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[1], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

(Fifth grade kyōiku kanji)

1. protection
2. guarantee

• Go-on: ほう (hō)^{←はう (fau, historical)}
• Kan-on: ほう (hō)^{←はう (fau, historical)}
• Kan’yō-on: ほ (ho, Jōyō)
• Kun: たもつ (tamotsu, 保つ, Jōyō)、やすんじる (yasunjiru, 保んじる)

保(たもつ) • (Tamotsu) 

1. a male given name

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Middle Korean readings, if any”)

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [po̞]
• Phonetic hangul: [보]

Wikisource

保 (eumhun 지킬 보 (jikil bo))

1. hanja form^? of 보 (“protection”)
2. hanja form^? of 보 (“guarantee”)

• 보호 (保護, boho, “protection”)
• 보수 (保守, bosu, “maintenance; conservation; political conservatism”)
• 보험 (保險, boheom, “insurance”)

保 (bau)

1. Nôm form of bau (“beautiful”).

   百景眉每式花保

   Pác cảnh mì mọi thức hoa bau

   A hundred different sceneries with all kinds of beautiful flowers

2. Nôm form of bau (“fast”).

   馬𨃅否保否𲋄流爲痚

   Mạ phjải bấu bau, bấu phong lưu vì héo

   The horse doesn't run fast or nobly beautiful it's skinny

保 (bấu)

1. Nôm form of bấu (“not”).

   保聀塘𫠯𪫆宮閣

   Bấu chắc tàng lồng mừa cung các

   I do not know the way back to the palace

• Dương Nhật Thanh, Hoàng Tuấn Nam (2003) Hoàng Triều Ân, editor, Từ điển chữ Nôm Tày [A Dictionary of (chữ) Nôm Tày]‎^[2] (in Tày and Vietnamese), Hanoi: Nhà xuất bản Khoa học xã hội [Social Sciences Publishing House]

保: Hán Nôm readings: bảo, bầu, bửu

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

• Nom Foundation