How to Write 搏 (bó) — Meaning “to fight; to struggle; to beat (heart)”

Imagine your hand (扌) is tightly gripping a rope while you struggle against a strong current (like a 尃 shape suggesting waves). This picture of fighting with your hands helps link the character to its meanings of fighting and struggling.

Pay attention to the right side 尃: it starts with a short horizontal stroke, then a long horizontal under it, and the lower part is 寸 (cùn) with a dot. A common mistake is making the right side too narrow or forgetting the dot in 寸, so keep it balanced.

搏 means "to fight" or "struggle," while 捧 (pěng) means "to hold up in both hands" or "to praise." Visually, 搏 uses 尃 on the right, whereas 捧 uses 奉 (fèng) and has a different stroke pattern—the left radical 扌 is the same, but the right side changes the meaning completely.

搏 often appears in motivational phrases like 拼搏 (pīn bó)—"go all out"—to describe working hard towards a goal. It is also common in medical terms like 脉搏 (mài bó) for "pulse" and in action contexts like 搏斗 (bó dòu) for "physical fight," reflecting both literal and figurative struggles.

Common words containing 搏 include: 拼搏 (pīn bó) — to struggle; to go all out; 脉搏 (mài bó) — pulse; heartbeat; 搏斗 (bó dòu) — to fight; to wrestle; to struggle.