暴 bào violent
violent; brutal; tyrannical
How it came to be
The sun at the top, with hands underneath and grain spread out below them. Grain drying in full sun, bare to the sky: from that come both 'sudden' and 'savage'.
How it is used
- Bound morpheme signaling sudden and extreme force, prefix-like in weather and behavior words.
- 暴雨 bàoyǔ is a torrential downpour (stronger than 大雨), and 暴力 bàolì "violence" is the standard word for physical/institutional violence in news and law.
- 暴露 bàolù "to expose/reveal" is used for secrets, weaknesses, or skin (身份暴露了 shēnfèn bàolù le, "the identity was exposed"), quite different from 暴雨/暴力's sense of raw force.
- 暴躁 bàozào describes a short, hot temper - 他脾气很暴躁 tā píqi hěn bàozào, "he has a hot temper" - a common way to criticize someone's personality.