霹 meaning and stroke order
Thunderclap, crashing thunder
How to write 霹, stroke by stroke
21 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 霹
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- used in 霹靂|霹雳[pi1 li4] and 霹雷[pi1 lei2]
How 霹 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Rain.
雨 gives the meaning and 辟 hints at the sound.
Radical: 雨 (rain), shared by 42 characters on this site.
How to remember 霹
霹 (pī) puts rain 雨 on top of 辟 (pì), which gives the sound. Picture the sky splitting open in a storm with a sudden crack of thunder.
霹 almost never appears alone. You will see it in 霹雳 (pīlì, thunderclap) and 霹雷 (pīléi, a sharp clap of thunder). Example: 晴天霹雳 (qíngtiān pīlì) means a bolt from the blue, a sudden shock.
Common mistake: Learners often read it as pì because the phonetic part 辟 is pì, but 霹 is first tone pī. It is also easy to confuse with 劈 (pī, to split), which has the same sound but 刀 (knife) at the bottom instead of 雨 on top.
Common words with 霹
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 霹雳 | Pīlì | thunderclap; (slang) awesome; shocking; terrifying |
霹 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 霹
How many strokes are in 霹?
霹 is written with 21 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 霹 mean?
霹 (pī) means thunderclap, crashing thunder. A common word with it is 霹雳 (Pīlì), meaning "thunderclap; (slang) awesome; shocking; terrifying".
How do you pronounce 霹?
霹 is pronounced pī, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 霹?
The radical of 霹 is 雨, which carries the idea of "rain". Dictionaries list 霹 under this radical.
What does 晴天霹雳 mean?
Literally it is a thunderclap from a clear sky. It describes sudden, shocking bad news, like the English phrase a bolt from the blue.
Is 霹雳 used as slang?
Yes. In some informal speech, especially in Taiwan, 霹雳 can mean awesome or shocking. In everyday mainland usage it mostly keeps its literal thunder meaning or appears in the idiom 晴天霹雳.