卜

See also: 蔔, ト, and ㅏ

卜	U+535C, 卜 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-535C

← 卛
[U+535B]

CJK Unified Ideographs

卝 →
[U+535D]

⼘	U+2F18, ⼘ KANGXI RADICAL DIVINATION

← ⼗
[U+2F17]

Kangxi Radicals

⼙ →
[U+2F19]

Translingual[edit]

Stroke order

Han character[edit]

See images of
Radical 25 卜

卜 (Kangxi radical 25, 卜+0, 2 strokes, cangjie input 卜 (Y), four-corner 2300₀, composition ⿰丨丶)

Kangxi radical #25, ⼘.

Derived characters[edit]

Appendix:Chinese radical/卜
仆, 𫨦, 圤, 处, 外, 𭑧, 𫶽, 扑, 𣱶, 𣅃, 朴, 𤆊, 㺪, 𦘱, 𭁅, 䃼, 𪽁, 𤰘, 𥃨, 𥐚, 𥝒, 𥩖, 补, 𫃚, 𦓦, 虲, 訃(讣), 𧴤, 赴, 䟔, 𨈒, 𨊣, 𤱈, 釙(钋), 𩚅(𬲥), 𩡭, 𩨓, 𩱻, 𬵂, 𪋿, 𪐙, 𭻣
𠚬, 𠚩, 𭭄, 𨾇, 鳪, 盀, 㓀, 𪢱, 𭶺, 𫁰, 𤴩, 𡆥

References[edit]

Kangxi Dictionary: page 157, character 25
Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 2774
Dae Jaweon: page 361, character 15
Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 91, character 11
Unihan data for U+535C

Chinese[edit]

Glyph origin[edit]

Historical forms of the character 卜
Shang	Western Zhou	Warring States		Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Qin slip script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Characters in the same phonetic series (卜) (Zhengzhang, 2003)

	Old Chinese
仆	pʰoːɡs, pʰus, pʰoɡs, bɯːɡ, *pʰoːɡ
赴	*pʰoɡs
訃	*pʰoɡs
朴	*pʰroːɡ
圤	*pʰroːɡ
卜	*poːɡ
鳪	*poːɡ
扑	*pʰoːɡ
攴	pʰoːɡ, pʰroːɡ

Perhaps a pictogram (象形) of a crack in an oracle bone, used for divination in ancient China.

Officially adopted as the simplified form of 蔔 in the Chinese Character Simplification Scheme (《漢字簡化方案》) in 1956.

Etymology 1[edit]

simp. and trad.		卜
alternative forms		𠁡𠁢

"Cracking" of a bone or tortoise shell in fire: "to divine by oracle bone" (Schuessler, 2007). Compare Galo -`buk (“to burst”), Galo -`puk (“to pop”), Mizo puak (“to explode; to burst”) (STEDT).

Pronunciation[edit]

Mandarin
(Pinyin): bǔ (bu³)

(Zhuyin): ㄅㄨˇ
Cantonese (Jyutping): buk¹
Hakka
(Sixian, PFS): puk

(Meixian, Guangdong): bug⁵
Min Dong (BUC): bók
Min Nan
(Hokkien, POJ): pok / poh

(Teochew, Peng'im): bog⁴
Wu (Wugniu)
- (Shanghainese): ⁷poq

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: bǔ
  - Zhuyin: ㄅㄨˇ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: bǔ
  - Wade–Giles: pu³
  - Yale: bǔ
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: buu
  - Palladius: бу (bu)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /pu²¹⁴/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: buk¹
  - Yale: būk
  - Cantonese Pinyin: buk⁷
  - Guangdong Romanization: bug¹
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /pʊk̚⁵/
Hakka
- (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
  - Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: puk
  - Hakka Romanization System: bug`
  - Hagfa Pinyim: bug⁵
  - Sinological IPA: /puk̚²/
- (Meixian)
  - Guangdong: bug⁵
  - Sinological IPA: /pʊk̚¹/
Min Dong
- (Fuzhou)
  - Bàng-uâ-cê: bók
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /pouʔ²⁴/
Min Nan
- (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: pok
  - Tâi-lô: pok
  - Phofsit Daibuun: pog
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /pɔk̚⁵/
  - IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Taipei, Kaohsiung): /pɔk̚³²/
- (Hokkien: General Taiwanese)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: poh
  - Tâi-lô: poh
  - Phofsit Daibuun: poiq
  - IPA (Taipei): /poʔ³²/
  - IPA (Kaohsiung): /pɤʔ³²/

Note:

poh - also written as 博, incl. surname (Taiwan);
pok - incl. surname (Mainland).

(Teochew)
- Peng'im: bog⁴
- Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: pok
- Sinological IPA ^(key): /pok̚²/

Wu

(Shanghainese)
- Wugniu: ⁷poq
- Wiktionary Romanisation: ⁴poq
- Sinological IPA ^(key): /poʔ⁵⁵/

Dialectal data

Variety	Location	edit 卜
Mandarin	Beijing	/pu²¹⁴/
	Harbin	/pʰu²¹³/
	Tianjin	/pʰu¹³/
	Jinan	/pu⁵⁵/
	Qingdao	/pu⁵⁵/
	Zhengzhou	/pu⁵³/
	Xi'an	/po²¹/
	Xining	/pv̩⁴⁴/
	Yinchuan	/puə¹³/ 姓 /pu¹³/ ～算子
	Lanzhou	/pə¹³/
	Ürümqi	/pʰu⁵¹/
	Wuhan	/pʰu²¹³/
	Chengdu	/pu¹³/
	Guiyang	/pʰu²¹/
	Kunming	/pʰu³¹/
	Nanjing	/puʔ⁵/
	Hefei	/pʰəʔ⁵/
Jin	Taiyuan	/pəʔ²/
	Pingyao	/pʌʔ¹³/
	Hohhot	/pəʔ⁴³/ ～拉 /pei⁵⁵/ 萝～
Wu	Shanghai	/poʔ⁵/
	Suzhou	/poʔ⁵/
	Hangzhou	/pʰoʔ⁵/
	Wenzhou	/po²¹³/
Hui	Shexian	/pɔʔ²¹/
Hui	Tunxi	/pʰu⁵/
Xiang	Changsha	/pʰu²⁴/
Xiang	Xiangtan	/pʰu²⁴/
Gan	Nanchang
Hakka	Meixian	/puk̚¹/
Hakka	Taoyuan	/puk̚²²/
Cantonese	Guangzhou	/pok̚⁵/
	Nanning	/pʰuk̚⁵⁵/
	Hong Kong	/puk̚⁵/
Min	Xiamen (Min Nan)	/pɔk̚³²/ /poʔ³²/
	Fuzhou (Min Dong)	/pɔuʔ²³/
	Jian'ou (Min Bei)	/pʰu²⁴/
	Shantou (Min Nan)	/pok̚²/
	Haikou (Min Nan)	/ʔbɔk̚⁵/ /ʔbak̚⁵/

Middle Chinese: puwk

Rime
Character	卜
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	幫 (1)
Final (韻)	東 (3)
Tone (調)	Checked (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	I
Fanqie	博木切
Baxter	puwk
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/puk̚/
Pan Wuyun	/puk̚/
Shao Rongfen	/puk̚/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/pəwk̚/
Li Rong	/puk̚/
Wang Li	/puk̚/
Bernard Karlgren	/puk̚/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	bu
Expected Cantonese Reflex	buk¹

Old Chinese
(Baxter–Sagart): /*pˤok/

(Zhengzhang): /*poːɡ/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	卜
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	bǔ
Middle Chinese	‹ puwk ›
Old Chinese	/*pˁok/
English	divine (v.)
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. [t] as coda may in fact be -t or -p; Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	卜
Reading #	1/1
No.	998
Phonetic component	卜
Rime group	屋
Rime subdivision	0
Corresponding MC rime	卜
Old Chinese	/*poːɡ/

Definitions[edit]

卜

to divine
- 予惟乙卯，朝至于洛師。我卜河朔黎水。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
  予惟乙卯，朝至于洛师。我卜河朔黎水。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
  From: The Book of Documents, circa 4^th – 3^rd century BCE
  Yǔ wéi yǐmǎo, zhāo zhì yú Luòshī. Wǒ bǔ Héshuò Lí shuǐ. [Pinyin]
  On the day Yi-mao, I came in the morning to this capital of Luo. I (first) divined by the shell concerning (the ground about) the li-water on the north of the He.
(literary) to foretell; to predict
生死未卜 ― shēngsǐwèibǔ ― no one knows whether the person is dead of alive
(literary) to choose
卜居 ― bǔjū ― to choose a place to live
a surname

Compounds[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

For pronunciation and definitions of 卜 – see 蔔 (“carrot”). (This character, 卜, is the simplified form of 蔔.)
Notes: Simplified Chinese is mainly used in Mainland China, Malaysia, and Singapore. Traditional Chinese is mainly used in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.

Etymology 3[edit]

For pronunciation and definitions of 卜 *– see 欲 (“(Min) to want (to do); about to”).* (This character, 卜, is a variant form of 欲.)

References[edit]

“Entry #64”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (in Chinese and Min Nan), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2023.

Japanese[edit]

Kanji[edit]

卜

(“Jinmeiyō” kanji used for names)

Readings[edit]

Go-on: ほく (hoku)
Kan-on: ほく (hoku)
Kan’yō-on: ぼく (boku)
Kun: うらなう (uranau, 卜う); うらない (uranai)

Etymology 1[edit]

Kanji in this term
卜
うらない Jinmeiyō
kun’yomi

For pronunciation and definitions of 卜 – see the following entry.

【占うらない】

[noun] fortune-telling

(This term, 卜, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)

Etymology 2[edit]

Kanji in this term
卜
ぼく Jinmeiyō
kan’yōon

Noun[edit]

卜(ぼく) • (boku)

(archaic) fortune-telling
(archaic) choosing

Derived terms[edit]

卜(ぼく)する (bokusuru, “tell fortunes”)

Etymology 3[edit]

Kanji in this term
卜
うら Jinmeiyō
kun’yomi

For pronunciation and definitions of 卜 – see the following entry.

【占うら】S

[noun] (archaic) fortune-telling

(This term, 卜, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)

Korean[edit]

Hanja[edit]

卜 (eumhun 점 복 (jeom bok))

Hanja form^? of 복 (“to divine”).