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貝

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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See also: 贝, 目, 見, 具, 頁, and 員
貝 U+8C9D, 貝
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-8C9D
← 貜
[U+8C9C] 		CJK Unified Ideographs 貞 →
[U+8C9E]
Thumb
⾙ U+2F99, ⾙
KANGXI RADICAL SHELL
← ⾘
[U+2F98] 		Kangxi Radicals ⾚ →
[U+2F9A]

Translingual

More information Stroke order ...
More information Stroke order ...

Han character

See images of
Radical 154 貝

貝 (Kangxi radical 154, 貝+0, 7 strokes, cangjie input 月山金 (BUC), four-corner 60800, composition ⿱目八)

  1. Kangxi radical #154, ⾙.

Derived characters

Additional Derived Characters
  • 𰂇, 𫸳, 𭜼, 𢭲, 𣇜, 𪸭, 𬒹, 𥆘, 𦁀, 𧧾, 𧳒, 𧼀, 𩗗
  • 𨿎, 𪔡, 𠭁, 𬹠, 𦮷, 𭶰, 𪽾, 𥦎, 𡪛, 𮦒, 𦺲, 𫂢, 𥴶, 𥴹, 𧂟, 𫴩, 𠩠, 𬟫, 𢊾, 𪊾

References

  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 1204, character 1
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 36656
  • Dae Jaweon: page 1665, character 2
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 6, page 3622, character 1
  • Unihan data for U+8C9D
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Chinese

More information trad., simp. ...

Glyph origin

More information Historical forms of the character 貝, Shang ...
Characters in the same phonetic series (貝) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
More information Old Chinese ...

Pictogram (象形) – cowrie used as currency in ancient China. Unrelated to the original version of 則. See also the top component of 得. Unrelated to 目.

Etymology

Cowries were used as money in ancient China (shell money).

Possibly from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *bwap (“snail”); cognate with Jingpho pawp, lapawp (“snail”), Chepang बोप् (bop, “snail”) (STEDT; Starostin; Schuessler, 2007).

Alternatively, Guo (1945) proposes that it is an ancient loanword from languages of the south (which call it bia). Since the species of sea snail used as decoration and currency—Monetaria moneta (money cowry)—is not native to the eastern seashores of China, he proposes that cowries used by the ancient Chinese dynasties in Central China must have come from the southeastern shores of China and areas further south. Compare Malay bia (“cowry”), Thai เบี้ย (bîia, “cowry shell; money”), Proto-Mon-Khmer *ɓa(a)j (“bean, small weight or coin”) > Khasi sbâi (“cowry; shell; money”), Khmer ពៃ (pɨy, “obsolete small coin”) (Schuessler, 2007). Note also Burmese ပဲ (pai:, “bean”).

Pronunciation

Note: buê3 - in 寶貝／宝贝.
    • (Leizhou)
      • Leizhou Pinyin: bue3 / bui3
      • Sinological IPA: /puɛ²¹/, /pui²¹/
Note:
  • bue3 - vernacular;
  • bui3 - literary.
More information Rime, Character ...
More information Character, Reading # ...
More information Zhengzhang system (2003), Character ...

Definitions

貝

  1. shellfish; cowrie
  2. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) money; currency
  3. a surname
    貝聿銘／贝聿铭  ―  Bèi Yùmíng  ―  Ieoh Ming Pei (Chinese-American architect)

Compounds

References

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Japanese

Korean

Vietnamese

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