Meaning of 倍
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- (two, three etc) -fold
- times (multiplier)
- double
- to increase or multiply
How to use 倍
倍 follows a number to show how many times larger something is, as in 两倍 (liǎngbèi) or 十倍 (shíbèi). It is also used in set words like 加倍 (jiābèi, to double) and 倍感 (bèigǎn, to feel even more). Example: 他的工资是我的三倍。(Tā de gōngzī shì wǒ de sān bèi.) His salary is three times mine.
倍 has the person radical 亻 on the left and 咅 (pǒu) on the right, which sounds close to bèi. Picture a person standing beside a copy of something, making it twice as much.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 倍 (bèi) with 陪 (péi, to accompany) and 部 (bù, part), which share the 咅 component. Check the left side: 亻 for 倍, 阝 on the left for 陪, and 阝 on the right for 部.
倍 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
倍 bèi · -fold · 10 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 倍.
| 两倍 | liǎngbèi | twice as much; double the amount |
| 双倍 | shuāngbèi | twofold; double |
| 加倍 | jiābèi | to double; to redouble |
| 三倍 | sānbèi | triple; three times as much; threefold |
| 十倍 | shíbèi | tenfold; ten times (sth) |
| 倍感 | bèigǎn | to feel even more (lonely etc); to be extremely (sad, delighted etc) |
| 翻倍 | fānbèi | to double |
| 百倍 | bǎibèi | a hundredfold; (fig.) markedly; to increase markedly (transitive or intransitive) (often i |
| 倍受 | bèishòu | variant of 備受|备受[bei4 shou4] |
Questions about 倍
What does 倍 mean?
倍 (bèi) means "(two, three etc) -fold; times (multiplier)" and is used as a measure word.
How do you write 倍?
倍 is made of 1 character: 倍 (10 strokes). That is 10 strokes in total.
Is 倍 an HSK word?
Yes. 倍 is on the HSK 4 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How do I say something increased by a number of times in Chinese?
Use 增加了 + number + 倍. Be careful, because 增加了一倍 (zēngjiā le yí bèi) means it doubled, while 增加到两倍 (zēngjiā dào liǎng bèi) also means it is now twice the original.
Can 倍 be used to say something is smaller, like half?
Standard usage avoids 倍 for decreases. Instead of saying something is reduced by a number of times, use 一半 (yíbàn, half) or a fraction like 三分之一 (sān fēn zhī yī, one third).