How to Write 波 (bō) — Meaning “Wave.”

Imagine a water drop (氵) hitting a drum made of skin (皮), creating ripples that spread like waves. Or think of the word "bow" (like a bow wave), and picture a boat’s bow pushing water into wave shapes.

Write the left radical 氵 first (dot, dot, lift) – keep it narrow and tall. Then write 皮: first a horizontal stroke, then a left-slanting stroke, a vertical hook, and finally a rightward flick. A common mistake is making the 皮 part too wide or forgetting the hook at the bottom.

波 means "wave" and has 皮 on the right. 㳄 (yán) is a rare character for "flowing water" or "saliva". 汊 (chà) means a branch of a river and has 叉 (fork) on the right. So 波 is about waves, while the others describe different water features.

波 is common in words like 波浪 (bō làng, "wave") for ocean waves, and 波折 (bō zhé, "twists and turns") for setbacks. It also appears in the city name 宁波 (Níng Bō, "calm waves") and in 微波炉 (wēi bō lú, "microwave oven"), referring to electromagnetic waves.

Common words containing 波 include: 波浪 (bō làng) — Wave.; 宁波 (níng bō) — Ningbo (a city in China).; 微波炉 (wēi bō lú) — microwave oven.