寶

寶 (Kangxi radical 40, 宀+17, 20 strokes, cangjie input 十一山金 (JMUC), four-corner 3080₆, composition ⿱𡩧貝)

• 𪴥, 𬎞, 軉 , 𨰰, 𫘄, 䴐, 𩇉, 𦈆

• 宝 (Japanese shinjitai and simplified Chinese)

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 293, character 12
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 7376
• Dae Jaweon: page 579, character 32
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 958, character 3
• Unihan data for U+5BF6

Historical forms of the character 寶
Shang	Western Zhou
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions

Oracle bone script: Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 宀 (“house”) + 𤣩 (“jade”) + 貝 (“cowry”) – treasures in a house.

The phonetic component 缶 (OC *puʔ) was added to the character in bronze inscriptions.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *pəw (“price”); cognate with Burmese အဖိုး (a.hpui:, “price”) (Schuessler, 2007; STEDT). Peiros and Starostin (1996) also compares it to Tibetan སྤུས (spus, “goods”). Sagart (1999) relates it to 富 (OC *pɯɡs, “rich”). Schuessler (2007) proposes that it could be the same word as 保 (OC *puːʔ, “to take care of; to consider something precious”).

寶

1. treasure; riches; valuables; precious thing

   執到寶／执到宝 [Cantonese]  ―  zap¹ dou³ bou² [Jyutping]  ―  to have obtained something wonderful

   • 天地之大德曰生，聖人之大寶曰位。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
     天地之大德曰生，圣人之大宝曰位。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: I Ching, 11^th – 8^th century BCE

     Tiāndì zhī dàdé yuē shēng, shèngrén zhī dàbǎo yuē wèi. [Pinyin]

     The great attribute of heaven and earth is the giving and maintaining life. What is most precious for the sage is to get the [highest] place - [in which he can be the human representative of heaven and earth].

   • 宋人或得玉，獻諸子罕，子罕弗受。獻玉者曰：「以示玉人，玉人以為寶也，故敢獻之。」
     子罕曰：「我以不貪為寶，爾以玉為寶，若以與我，皆喪寶也。」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     宋人或得玉，献诸子罕，子罕弗受。献玉者曰：「以示玉人，玉人以为宝也，故敢献之。」
     子罕曰：「我以不贪为宝，尔以玉为宝，若以与我，皆丧宝也。」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Commentary of Zuo, c. 4^th century BCE

     Sòng rén huò dé yù, xiàn zhū Zǐhǎn, Zǐhǎn fú shòu. Xiàn yù zhě yuē: “Yǐ shì yùrén, yùrén yǐwèi bǎo yě, gù gǎn xiàn zhī.”
     Zǐhǎn yuē: “Wǒ yǐ bù tān wèi bǎo, ěr yǐ yù wèi bǎo, ruò yǐ yǔ wǒ, jiē sàng bǎo yě.” [Pinyin]

     Someone in Song had obtained a jade, which he presented to Zihan. Zihan would not accept it. The one presenting the jade said, "I have shown it to the jade workers, and they believe that it is a treasure. Therefore I presume to present it to you."
     Zihan said, "I consider not being greedy as a treasure; you consider the jade a treasure. If you give it to me, both of us will lose our treasures."

   • 勤為無價之寶，慎是護身之符。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     勤为无价之宝，慎是护身之符。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Mingxin baojian, 1393

     Qín wèi wújià zhī bǎo, shèn shì hùshēn zhī fú. [Pinyin]

     Diligence is a priceless treasure; prudence is a protective talisman.

2. to treasure; to cherish
3. to collect (treasures)
4. treasured; cherished
5. precious; valuable
6. (historical) jade token
7. term of respect, for things related to the emperor, to Buddhism, to Taoism, or to other people
8. (term of endearment) darling; baby; dear
9. (gambling) a kind of gambling device
10. a surname: Bao
11. (Sichuanese) foolish; silly; stupid

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

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji, kyūjitai kanji, shinjitai form 宝)

Kyūjitai form of 宝

1. precious objects
2. worldly goods
3. valuable possessions

• Go-on: ほう (hō)
• Kan-on: ほう (hō)
• Kan’yō-on: ほ (ho)
• Kun: たから (takara, 寶)

寶 (eumhun 보배 보 (bobae bo))

1. Hanja form^? of 보 (“treasure; riches; valuables; precious thing”).

• 보물 (寶物, bomul, “treasure”)
• 국보 (國寶, gukbo, “national treasure”)

寶: Hán Nôm readings: bảo, báu, bửu

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