贫 meaning and stroke order
Poor, needy, impoverished; lacking
How to write 贫, stroke by stroke
8 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
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- 8
Meaning of 贫
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- poor
- inadequate
- deficient
- garrulous
How 贫 is built
Ideographic (compound meaning) character. Money 贝 that must be split 分; 分 also provides the pronunciation.
Radical: 贝 (sea shell), shared by 63 characters on this site.
How to remember 贫
贫 shows money 贝 (bèi, an old word for shell money) placed under 分 (fēn, to divide). When your money keeps getting split up, you end up poor, and 分 also hints at the sound pín.
贫 is rarely used alone in modern speech. It usually appears in compounds like 贫困 (pínkùn) and 贫穷 (pínqióng), or in set phrases about lacking something, such as 贫血 (pínxuè, anemia). Example: 这个地区很贫困。(Zhège dìqū hěn pínkùn.) This area is very poor.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 贫 (pín) with 贪 (tān, greedy), since both have 贝 at the bottom. Check the top: 贫 has 分 (divide), while 贪 has 今 (now).
Common words with 贫
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
贫 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 贫
How many strokes are in 贫?
贫 is written with 8 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 贫 mean?
贫 (pín) means poor, needy, impoverished; lacking. A common word with it is 贫困 (pínkùn), meaning "impoverished; poverty".
How do you pronounce 贫?
贫 is pronounced pín, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 贫?
The radical of 贫 is 贝, which carries the idea of "sea shell". Dictionaries list 贫 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 贫?
The traditional form of 贫 is 貧. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 贫 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 贫 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 贫 is part of the HSK 6 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
What is the difference between 贫 and 穷?
穷 (qióng) is the everyday word for poor, as in 他很穷 (tā hěn qióng). 贫 is more formal and mostly appears in compounds like 贫困, which is common in news and official writing about poverty.
Why does 贫 sometimes mean talkative?
In northern colloquial speech, 贫 can describe someone who is garrulous or likes to joke around too much, as in 贫嘴 (pínzuǐ), meaning a glib, chattering person. This sense is informal and unrelated to money.