買 meaning and stroke order
To buy, to purchase; to bribe, to persuade
How to write 買, stroke by stroke
12 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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Meaning of 買
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- to buy
- to purchase
How 買 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Money.
貝 gives the meaning.
Radical: 貝 (sea shell), shared by 62 characters on this site.
How to remember 買
買 sits a net 罒 on top of 貝 (a shell), which hints at money. Picture scooping shells, the old money, into a net to go buying.
買 (mǎi) is the everyday verb for buying things. It is the traditional form, and mainland China writes it as 买. It also appears in words like 买单 (mǎidān, to pay the bill) and 收买 (shōumǎi, to bribe or buy off). Example: 我想買一杯咖啡。(Wǒ xiǎng mǎi yì bēi kāfēi.) I want to buy a cup of coffee.
Common mistake: Learners often mix up 買 (mǎi, third tone, to buy) with 賣 (mài, fourth tone, to sell). 賣 has an extra 士 on top, so think of it as buying plus something more on top to sell. Getting the tone wrong flips the meaning.
Common words with 買
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 購買 | gòumǎi | to purchase; to buy | HSK 4 |
| 買賣 | mǎimai | to buy and sell | HSK 5 |
| 收買 | shōumǎi | to purchase; to buy; to bribe; to buy off | HSK 7-9 |
| 買不起 | mǎi bu qǐ | cannot afford; can't afford buying | HSK 7-9 |
| 買下 | mǎixià | to purchase (sth expensive, e.g. a house); to acquire (a company, a copyright etc) | |
| 買家 | mǎijiā | buyer; purchaser | |
| 買單 | mǎidān | to pay the bill; to pick up the tab | |
| 買票 | mǎipiào | to buy tickets; (Tw) to buy votes (in an election) | |
| 買好 | mǎihǎo | to ingratiate oneself | |
| 買主 | mǎizhǔ | customer | |
| 買通 | mǎitōng | to bribe | |
| 買菜 | mǎicài | to buy groceries | |
| 做買賣 | zuòmǎimài | to buy and sell; to do business | |
| 買房 | mǎifáng | to buy a house |
Questions about 買
How many strokes are in 買?
買 is written with 12 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 買 mean?
買 (mǎi) means to buy, to purchase; to bribe, to persuade. A common word with it is 购买 (gòumǎi), meaning "to purchase; to buy".
How do you pronounce 買?
買 is pronounced mǎi, in the third tone (dipping).
What is the radical of 買?
The radical of 買 is 貝, which carries the idea of "sea shell". Dictionaries list 買 under this radical.
What is the simplified form of 買?
買 is a traditional character. Its simplified form is 买, used in mainland China and Singapore.
Why is 买卖 (mǎimai) pronounced with a neutral tone at the end?
When 买卖 means business or trade as a noun, the second syllable is usually said in the neutral tone, as mǎimai. It combines buy and sell to mean doing business.
How do I say I can't afford something using 買?
Use 買不起 (mǎi bu qǐ), as in 這個太貴了，我買不起。(Zhège tài guì le, wǒ mǎi bu qǐ.) This is too expensive, I can't afford it. The positive form is 買得起 (mǎi de qǐ), can afford.