to peel bo1 or bao1

[lengjai69]

Is there a difference in meanings between the readings bao1 and bo1 for 剝?

Do both mean peel (an orange, egg, shrimp etc)?

Thanks in advance

[cooldragon68]

Is there a difference in meanings between the readings bao1 and bo1 for 剝?

Do both mean peel (an orange, egg, shrimp etc)?

Thanks in advance

I think bao1 is very colloquial ,some Chinese northerners pronuciate like that,but in written form it is also 剥.

[semantic nuance]

剝 should be bo1, not bao1. 剝 bo1 means to peel.

I assume you wanted to type buo1 instead of bao1 in the first place. bao1 is 包, meaning "wrap", or "bag".

Did you hear buo1 in Taiwan? Some people will pronounce that way, as it is a variation from bo1.

Hope it helps!

[lengjai69]

thanks to both of you.

In addition to bo1, I had aso heard the bao1 reading of that character and was wondering.

I guess, as Cooldragon 68 said, it is very colloquial in a few regions and that bo1 is the standard reading.

Thanks again.

Philip

[semantic nuance]

When we say 剝皮 (be skinned), we say "ba1 pi2"!

[anonymoose]

According to my dictionary:

剥 bō is used only in compound words and idiomatic phrases such as 剥夺 and 生吞活剥.

[Altair]

I had thought the same as Anonymoose, but cannot find it in my dictionaries. All of them do, however, have full entries for bao1 used by itself.

By the way, what about the 薄 in 这本书很薄. Can it only be pronounced as báo, or is bó also okay?

[Quest]

Both 剥 and 薄 have "k" ending in Cantonese: "mok" and bok". The different pronunciations might have appeared when Mandarin dropped these endings.

[cooldragon68]

semantic nuance:

When we say 剝皮 (be skinned), we say "ba1 pi2"!

Probably ba1 here can be written as "扒". ba1 pi2 (扒皮)

Altair:

By the way, what about the 薄 in 这本书很薄. Can it only be pronounced as báo, or is bó also okay?

If you say:这本书很薄(báo),I think it is more like Beijing accent and can be easier understood. if pronuciated like bó, althought it is standard pronunciation it is not good oral Chinese to my point of view. báo is better.

[lengjai69]

OK.

It's starting to get clear to me.

for peeling something without a knife you can use:

ba1pi2 扒皮

bao1 剝

bo1pi2 剝皮 (usually only read bo1 in compounds)

qu4pi2 去皮

Is that a good summary?

For those native speakers among you, which is the most common way to say peel an orange?

[semantic nuance]

qu4pi2 去皮

去皮means to remove the skin. It can be used when you use a knife. It means to take the skin off with whatever tool you have.

When you want to say "peel the orange", you can say 剝橘子 (bo1 ju2 zi).

Hope it helps!