朴 pǔ plain
plain; simple; sincere; surname
How to remember 朴: 木 tree + 卜 fortune teller = plain. Under a tree at the fair sits a fortune teller with no crystal ball, her table and her dress both plain.
Component breakdown
朴 = 木 tree + 卜 fortune teller
- 木 tree
- 卜 fortune teller
Under a tree at the fair sits a fortune teller with no crystal ball, her table and her dress both plain.
How it is used
- Bound morpheme 'plain, simple, unadorned' - 朴素 (pǔsù) plain/simple (dress, lifestyle), 朴实 (pǔshí) plain and honest, 质朴 (zhìpǔ) unpretentious, 淳朴 (chúnpǔ) simple and sincere.
- 朴 describes an unaffected, no-frills quality valued positively. Read Piáo as a Korean surname (朴 = Park). 古朴 (gǔpǔ) = quaintly simple/rustic.