杯
Character Story & Explanation
杯 is ubiquitous in modern Chinese life — from ordering coffee ('我要一杯拿铁') to formal banquets where toasting with bēi is essential. Historically, during the Han Dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), lacquered wooden cups marked social status, and the character appears in excavated bamboo slips from that era. A common idiom is 举杯 (jǔ bēi, 'to raise one’s cup'), symbolizing celebration or goodwill — still used in speeches and New Year toasts.
The character 杯 is not a pictograph but a later-developed phono-semantic compound (first attested in seal script, c. 3rd century BCE). Its form stabilized in clerical script by the Han period. While no oracle bone form exists, archaeological finds confirm early cups were indeed made of wood or lacquer — validating the 木 radical’s semantic role.
Hi students! Today we’re learning 杯 (bēi), a Level 1 HSK character meaning 'cup' — a very practical word you’ll use daily in Chinese. It’s an 8-stroke character with the 木 (mù, 'wood') radical, which tells us it originally referred to wooden drinking vessels. Even though cups today are often plastic, glass, or ceramic, the radical reflects ancient material usage — a great example of how Chinese characters preserve historical context.
This character is a classic semantic-phonetic compound: the left part 木 gives a clue about meaning (wooden container), and the right part 否 (fǒu) historically provided sound guidance — though modern pronunciation bēi has evolved, the phonetic component still helps advanced learners recognize patterns across characters like 杯, 坏 (huài), and 怀 (huái).
As a beginner, focus first on recognizing and writing 杯 correctly — pay attention to the stroke order: start with the wood radical (four strokes), then the ‘fǒu’ component (four more). You’ll see 杯 everywhere — on menus, in tea shops, and in phrases like 一杯水 (yī bēi shuǐ, 'a cup of water'). Mastering it opens doors to countless everyday expressions!
Example Sentences
Common Compounds
Similar Characters — Don't Mix These Up
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