Meaning of 赔
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- to compensate for loss
- to indemnify
- to suffer a financial loss
How to use 赔
赔 is used both for paying someone back for a loss and for losing money yourself in business. Common words include 赔偿 (péicháng, to compensate) and 赔钱 (péiqián, to lose money). Example: 这次生意我们赔了很多钱。(Zhè cì shēngyi wǒmen péi le hěn duō qián.) We lost a lot of money on this deal.
赔 has 贝 (bèi, shell) on the left, an old symbol of money, and 咅 (pǒu) on the right, which hints at the sound. Think of handing over shells to make up for something you broke.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 赔 with 陪 (péi, to accompany), which sounds exactly the same. 陪 has the 阝 side, while 赔 has 贝 for money.
赔 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.
赔 péi · to compensate for loss · 12 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 赔.
Questions about 赔
What does 赔 mean?
赔 (péi) means "to compensate for loss; to indemnify" and is used as a verb.
How do you write 赔?
赔 is made of 1 character: 赔 (12 strokes). That is 12 strokes in total.
Is 赔 an HSK word?
Yes. 赔 is on the HSK 5 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 赔 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 赔 is written 賠.
What is the difference between 赔 and 赔偿?
赔 is short and common in speech, as in 你得赔我 (nǐ děi péi wǒ, you have to pay me back). 赔偿 is more formal and is used in legal, insurance, or official contexts.
What does 赔不是 mean?
赔不是 (péi búshi) means to apologize, literally to make up for a wrong. It is a spoken, informal expression, and 道歉 (dàoqiàn) is the more neutral word.