Abstract: In this paper, the relations among dissipation term, speed of wave, asymptotic value and wave shape are established for generalized strong nonlinear Boussinesq equation. Their kink or bell shape solitary-wave
solutions are obtained by proper transformation and undetermined assumption method. The authors also obtain the periodic wave solutions of cosine function for the generalized Boussinesq equation without dissipation term, which have not been reported before. Moreover, a conclusion with respect to wave speed's influence on wave shape is shown, i.e., for ``good'' Boussinesq equation travalling wave solution changes to cosine periodic wave solution from bell shape
solitary-wave solution as wave speed varies from small to large; for ``bad'' Boussinesq equation travalling wave solution changes to bell shape solitary-wave solution from cosine periodic wave solution as wave speed varies from small to large.

Key words: Strong nonlinear, Boussinesq equation, Analysis of wave shape,
Solitary-wave solution, Cosine periodic wave solution