Ideographic: Earthen 土 walls built for defense 保; 保 also provides the meaningRadical:

meaning for bǎo:

  • - an earthwork
  • - castle
  • - position of defense
  • - stronghold
  • - used in place names, often as phonetic bao for "burg" or "bad"

meaning for :

  • - variant of 铺
  • - used in place names