补充 (bǔ chōng) is a verb meaning 'to supplement' or 'to add (something needed or missing)'. The character 补 (bǔ) means 'to repair', 'to make up for', or 'to compensate', while 充 (chōng) means 'to fill', 'to fill up', or 'to serve as'. Together, they convey the idea of adding something to complete, enhance, or compensate for a deficiency—like filling a gap in knowledge, nutrition, or information. It’s commonly used in contexts involving improvement, correction, or enrichment.

This word appears frequently in formal and semi-formal settings: academic discussions (e.g., supplementing an argument), healthcare (e.g., vitamin supplementation), business (e.g., adding details to a report), and daily communication when offering extra information. It can be used transitively (with an object) or intransitively (e.g., 补充一下), often followed by 一下 for politeness or softening. Unlike the more casual 加 (jiā), 补充 implies purposeful, targeted addition to address incompleteness.