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单薄 (dān bó) — (of clothing) thin, not warm; (of body) frail, weak; (of reasoning, evidence) flimsy, weak

Definition

单薄 covers thin clothing, a frail body, and flimsy evidence — a more literary, multi-domain word than the plain 薄 (physical thickness). For physical weakness, 虚弱 focuses on health while 单薄 emphasizes being thinly built.

adjective
(of clothing) thinnot warm(of body) frailweak(of reasoning, evidence) flimsyweak

Examples

  • 单薄，。
    Zhè jiàn chèn shān tài dān bó le, fēng yì chuī jiù tòu.
    This shirt is too thin; the wind goes right through it.
  • 单薄，。
    Tā cóng xiǎo shēn tǐ dān bó, jīng cháng shēng bìng.
    He has been frail since childhood and often gets sick.
  • 单薄，。
    Nǐ de zhèng jù tài dān bó, fǎ guān bú huì cǎi xìn.
    Your evidence is too flimsy; the judge won't accept it.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

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

单dānthin
薄báothin

单 and 薄 both suggest thinness or weakness, giving the sense of frail or not substantial.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 單; 单 is its simplified writing.

The form 單 originally pictured a Y-shaped wooden stick with two stones on top.

Open 单 →

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
艹Written in full as艸cǎo
Sound part声符shēngfú
溥
溥pǔ薄báo
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

薄 combines 艹, a grass part, with 溥 as the sound part.

Open 薄 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Size & Dimension

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