鄙 meaning and stroke order
Rustic, vulgar; to despise, to scorn
How to write 鄙, stroke by stroke
13 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 鄙
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- rustic
- low
- base
- mean
- to despise
- to scorn
How 鄙 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Village.
阝 gives the meaning and 啚 hints at the sound.
Radical: 阝 (place), shared by 160 characters on this site.
How to remember 鄙
The right side 阝 here means a town or village, and 啚 gives the sound. Picture a remote little village far from the capital, and you get the old idea of rustic and unrefined, which later grew into low, mean, and looking down on someone.
Today 鄙 mostly appears in set words. 鄙视 (bǐshì) means to look down on, and 卑鄙 (bēibǐ) describes a mean or despicable person or act. Example: 他的做法很卑鄙。(Tā de zuòfǎ hěn bēibǐ.) What he did was really despicable.
Common mistake: Learners often mix up 鄙 with 图 (tú, picture), because 啚 is the old form inside 圖. Also remember that 阝 sits on the right in 鄙. That makes it the town radical, not the hill radical that sits on the left.
Common words with 鄙
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
鄙 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 鄙
How many strokes are in 鄙?
鄙 is written with 13 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 鄙 mean?
鄙 (bǐ) means rustic, vulgar; to despise, to scorn. A common word with it is 卑鄙 (bēibǐ), meaning "base; mean".
How do you pronounce 鄙?
鄙 is pronounced bǐ, in the third tone (dipping).
What is the radical of 鄙?
The radical of 鄙 is 阝, which carries the idea of "place". Dictionaries list 鄙 under this radical.
Is 鄙 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 鄙 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
Is 卑鄙 a strong word in Chinese?
Yes. 卑鄙 is a harsh moral judgment, close to despicable or low-down in English. Saying it about a person directly is quite insulting.
How is 鄙人 used, and should I use it?
鄙人 (bǐrén) is an old humble way to say I, like your humble servant. Today it sounds formal, literary, or jokingly modest, so in normal conversation just use 我 (wǒ).