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保卫 (bǎo wèi) — to defend, to safeguard

Definition

保卫 (bǎowèi) means 'to defend / safeguard' — used for large-scale subjects like a country, peace, or rights, more formal and militant than 保护. Compare 捍卫, which is even more emphatic and written.

verb
to defendto safeguard

Examples

  • 保卫。
    Wǒ men yào nǔ lì bǎo wèi shì jiè hé píng.
    We must strive to defend world peace.
  • 保卫。
    Jūn duì de zhí zé shì bǎo wèi guó jiā ān quán.
    The military's duty is to safeguard national security.
  • 保卫。
    Měi gè rén dōu yīng gāi bǎo wèi zì jǐ de hé fǎ quán lì.
    Everyone should defend their own legal rights.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

保bǎoprotect
卫wèidefend

保 means to protect, and 卫 also means to defend, so the two parts combine to mean defending something.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

保 originally showed a person 人 carrying a child 子 on their back, which led to the sense of protecting.

Open 保 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 衛; 卫 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
行行xíng
Sound part声符shēngfú
韋
韋wéi衛wèi
Same sound today

The traditional form 衛 is built from 行 as the sense part and 韋 as the sound part; the simplified 卫 is a shorthand.

Open 卫 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9HSK 2.0 Level 6Military & Defense5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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