Today’s word of the day is 抱 (bào) which means to hug or hold. Let’s practice by making different words, phrases, and sentences with 抱 (bào).
抱怨 (bào yuàn) To complain
The first word is 抱怨 (bào yuàn) which means to complain. 抱 here means ‘hold’ and 怨 means to blame. A way of using it in a sentence is: 不要去抱怨生活对你不公平。(Búyào qù bàoyuàn shēnghuó duì nǐ bù gōngpíng.) Do not complain that life isn’t fair to you.
抱歉 (bào qiàn) Apologies
Another word we can create with 抱 (bào) is 抱歉 (bào qiàn). This means apologies. It’s more formal than 对不起 (duì bu qǐ) or 不好意思(bù hǎoyìsi) You can say 抱歉 for times when you decline someone’s request. For example, if you can’t make it to an event tomorrow, you can say 抱歉，我明天去不了。(Bàoqiàn, wǒ míngtiān qù bùliǎo.) Apologies, I cannot go tomorrow anymore.
拥抱 (yōng bào) To embrace
Finally, we can create the word 拥抱 (yōng bào) which means to embrace. A way of using it in a sentence is 她拥抱了一下儿子。(Tā yōngbàole yīxià érzi.) She embraced her son for a while.