卜 (bǔ) - To divine, to foretell & divination

卜Tone 3

bǔ ｜ 2 strokes ｜ radical: 卜

傲不

卜 · bǔ

To divine, to foretell;

divination;

to predict;

also used as a surname.

To divine, to foretelldivinationto predict

Usage highlights

DivinationFortune tellingDivination and astrologyDivinerTo predictBu surname

Synonyms

  • 占— to divine, to practice divination
  • 筮— to divine using milfoil stalks
  • 卦— divinatory trigram

Antonyms

  • 定— certain, fixed (vs. uncertain divination)
  • 确— definite, sure

Usage & contexts

Examples

  • He practices divination (占卜).
  • The fortune teller predicted his future (卜卦).
  • The surname Bu is quite ancient (卜姓).
  • They use turtle shells for divination (卜筮).

Collocations

  • Divination(占卜)
  • Fortune telling(卜卦)
  • Divination and astrology(卜筮)
  • Diviner(卜者)
  • To predict(卜算)
  • Bu surname(卜姓)

Idioms

  • Know without divination(未卜先知)
  • Life and death are unpredictable(生死未卜)
  • Divine by tortoise shell and milfoil(卜龟问筮)

Cultural background

FAQ
  • One of the oldest Chinese characters, originally depicting cracks on heated turtle shells used in oracle bone divination.
  • The Bu surname originated from officials in charge of divination during ancient times.
  • Oracle bone script from the Shang dynasty contains many divination records using this character.

FAQ