Meaning of 兵
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- soldiers
- a force
- an army
- weapons
- arms
- military
- warlike
Measure word: 個|个
How to use 兵
In modern Chinese 兵 usually means soldier or troops, and it mostly appears in compounds like 士兵 (shìbīng) and 当兵 (dāngbīng). The older sense of weapons survives in set phrases. Example: 他年轻的时候当过兵。 (Tā niánqīng de shíhou dāng guo bīng.) He served in the army when he was young.
Picture the top part 丘 as an axe head and the two strokes at the bottom as two hands holding it up. Hands gripping a weapon gives you 兵 (bīng), weapons and the soldiers who carry them.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 兵 (bīng) with 乒 (pīng) and 乓 (pāng) from 乒乓球 (pīngpāngqiú). Those two each keep only one of the bottom strokes, while 兵 has both. Also keep the first tone: bīng is high and flat, not bǐng like 饼 (bǐng, flatbread).
兵 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.
兵 bīng · soldiers · 7 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 兵.
| 士兵 | shìbīng | soldier |
| 官兵 | guānbīng | (military) officers and soldiers; officers and men |
| 骑兵 | qíbīng | cavalry |
| 卫兵 | wèibīng | guard; bodyguard |
| 当兵 | dāngbīng | to serve in the army; to be a soldier |
| 步兵 | bùbīng | infantry; foot |
| 新兵 | xīnbīng | (military) raw recruit; rookie; newcomer (to a profession or field) |
| 兵力 | bīnglì | military strength; armed forces |
| 兵团 | bīngtuán | large military unit; formation |
| 大兵 | dàbīng | soldier; large army |
| 兵器 | bīngqì | weaponry; weapons |
| 老兵 | lǎobīng | old soldier; veteran; veteran (sb who has a lot of experience in some domain) |
Questions about 兵
What does 兵 mean?
兵 (bīng) means "soldiers; a force" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 兵?
兵 is made of 1 character: 兵 (7 strokes). That is 7 strokes in total.
Is 兵 an HSK word?
Yes. 兵 is on the HSK 4 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
Can I say 一个兵 to mean one soldier?
Yes, 一个兵 is fine in casual speech. In more formal writing people prefer 一名士兵 (yī míng shìbīng).
What does the idiom 兵来将挡 mean?
兵来将挡，水来土掩 (bīng lái jiàng dǎng, shuǐ lái tǔ yǎn) means when soldiers come, generals block them, and when water comes, earth holds it back. People use it to say they will deal with problems as they come.