貧 meaning and stroke order
Poor, needy, impoverished; lacking
How to write 貧, 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
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
Meaning of 貧
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- poor
- inadequate
- deficient
- garrulous
How 貧 is built
Ideographic (compound meaning) character. Money 貝 that must be split 分; 分 also provides the pronunciation.
Radical: 貝 (sea shell), shared by 62 characters on this site.
How to remember 貧
Picture 分 (fēn, to divide) sitting on top of 貝 (bèi, shell money). When your money has to be split again and again, everyone ends up with little, so you are poor.
貧 is the traditional form, and on the mainland you will see it written 贫. It rarely stands alone in speech and mostly appears in words like 貧窮 (pínqióng) and 貧困 (pínkùn). Example: 這個地區很貧窮。(Zhège dìqū hěn pínqióng.) This area is very poor.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 貧 (pín) with 貪 (tān, greedy), which has 今 on top instead of 分. Also keep the second tone: say pín, not pīn like 拼 (to spell).
Common words with 貧
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
Questions about 貧
How many strokes are in 貧?
貧 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 貧 mean?
貧 (pín) means poor, needy, impoverished; lacking. A common word with it is 贫困 (pínkùn), meaning "impoverished; poverty".
How do you pronounce 貧?
貧 is pronounced pín, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 貧?
The radical of 貧 is 貝, which carries the idea of "sea shell". Dictionaries list 貧 under this radical.
What is the simplified form of 貧?
貧 is a traditional character. Its simplified form is 贫, used in mainland China and Singapore.
What is the difference between 貧窮 and 窮?
窮 (qióng) is the everyday word for poor in casual speech, as in 我很窮 (wǒ hěn qióng), I'm broke. 貧窮 sounds more formal and is used for serious poverty in writing, news, or social discussion.
Why does 貧血 mean anemia?
Here 貧 carries its sense of lacking or deficient, so 貧血 (pínxuè) literally means "lacking blood." The same idea of lacking shows up in 貧瘠 (pínjí), describing barren soil.