啤 meaning and stroke order
Beer
How to write 啤, stroke by stroke
11 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
- 1
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- 11
Meaning of 啤
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- beer
How 啤 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Mouth.
口 gives the meaning and 卑 hints at the sound.
Radical: 口 (mouth), shared by 428 characters on this site.
How to remember 啤
啤 has a mouth 口 on the left for drinking and 卑 (bēi) on the right giving the sound. Picture a mouth at the side of a glass, saying "pí" as it takes a sip of beer.
啤 almost never appears alone. It is used in 啤酒 (píjiǔ), the everyday word for beer, which is a loanword based on the sound of the foreign word. Example: 我们喝啤酒吧。(Wǒmen hē píjiǔ ba.) Let's drink some beer.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 啤 with 脾 (pí, spleen or temper, as in 脾气) or 牌 (pái, brand or card), since all three share 卑 on the right. Remember that only the one with the mouth 口 is for drinking.
Common words with 啤
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 啤酒 | píjiǔ | beer (loanword) | HSK 3 |
啤 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 啤
How many strokes are in 啤?
啤 is written with 11 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 啤 mean?
啤 (pí) means beer. A common word with it is 啤酒 (píjiǔ), meaning "beer (loanword)".
How do you pronounce 啤?
啤 is pronounced pí, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 啤?
The radical of 啤 is 口, which carries the idea of "mouth". Dictionaries list 啤 under this radical.
Is 啤 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 啤 is part of the HSK 3 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
How do you order beer in Chinese?
You can say 来一瓶啤酒 (lái yì píng píjiǔ), "one bottle of beer, please." For draft beer, ask for 扎啤 (zhāpí) or 生啤 (shēngpí).
Why does 啤 use 卑 if it is pronounced pí and not bēi?
In pictophonetic characters the sound part often gives only an approximate pronunciation. 卑 is a sound hint shared by several pí and pái characters, such as 脾 and 牌, rather than an exact match.