Definition
哺乳 (bǔ rǔ) specifically means 'to breastfeed, to nurse' — feeding a baby or young animal with milk from the mother's breast or udder. It is distinct from 护理 (hù lǐ, to nurse a patient) and 看护 (kān hù, to watch over someone), which involve medical or general care, not feeding. 哺育 (bǔ yù) is broader: it can mean 'to feed' (of birds/animals) or figuratively 'to nurture', but 哺乳 is limited to milk-feeding.
verb
to breastfeedto nurse (a baby or young animal)
Easily confused
- 不如bù rúsound-aliketo be not as good as, to be inferior to
- 步入bù rùsound-aliketo step into; to enter (a stage, period, or field)
Examples
- 哺乳。Zhè wèi māma jiānchí bǔ rǔ le liù gè yuè.This mother insisted on breastfeeding for six months.
- ,哺乳。Xiǎo xióngmāo chūshēng hòu, māma huì bǔ rǔ tāmen.After baby pandas are born, the mother will nurse them.
- 哺乳。Yīshēng jiànyì tā měitiān bǔ rǔ sì cì.The doctor advised her to breastfeed four times a day.
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