匕

See also: ヒ, ビ, ピ, 七, and 𠤎

匕 U+5315, 匕 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5315 ← 匔 [U+5314] CJK Unified Ideographs 化 → [U+5316]

⼔ U+2F14, ⼔ KANGXI RADICAL SPOON ← ⼓ [U+2F13] Kangxi Radicals ⼕ → [U+2F15]

Translingual

Stroke order

Alternative forms

• In Taiwan, the upper right stroke of 匕 is written with a straight line (一) from left to right.
• In other regions, the upper right stroke of 匕 is written with a curve (丿) from the top right corner towards the middle left, which is also the historical form found in the Kangxi Dictionary.

Han character

匕 (Kangxi radical 21, 匕+0, 2 strokes, cangjie input 山竹 (UH), four-corner 2271₀, composition ⿺乚丿(GJKH) or ⿺乚一(T))

1. Kangxi radical #21, ⼔.

Derived characters

• Appendix:Chinese_radical/匕
• 化, 比, 𡖅, 𡚧, 㠲, 𢖬, 朼, 此, 𭭽, 𤆇, 牝, 𦘪, 䂗, 𥘇, 𥝓, 𭭾, 𫊤, 𧢶, 䚰, 𧺊, 䣥, 𨤽, 𮩲, 𩵏, 𪋼, 齔(𮮾/龀)
• 𠨐, 𢺵, 頃(顷), 𠘩, 旨, 𥘈, 𭴁, 𡙊, 眞, 仑, 匂, 𠨬, 它, 尼, 庀, 𢨩, 㫐, 𣥅, 老, 𦉮, 疕, 皀, 𥃩, 壱, 𡧏, 𡭠, 䖈, 鬯, 麀, 𭅔

Further reading

Wikisource

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 152, character 18
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 2570
• Dae Jaweon: page 342, character 2
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 261, character 15
• Unihan data for U+5315

Chinese

trad.		匕
simp. #		匕

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 匕
Shang		Western Zhou	Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Characters in the same phonetic series (匕) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
匕	*pilʔ
庀	*pʰelʔ
疕	*pʰelʔ, *pilʔ, *pʰrilʔ
朼	*pilʔ
牝	*bilʔ, *binʔ

Pictogram (象形) – a spoon. Unrelated to 老, in which it represents a walking cane. Also unrelated to the top component of 眞, in which it represents a knife or dagger.

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): bǐ (bi³)

  (Zhuyin): ㄅㄧˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): bei² / bei⁶ / bei³
• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): pí
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): pí

  (Teochew, Peng'im): bi³

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: bǐ
    • Zhuyin: ㄅㄧˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: bǐ
    • Wade–Giles: pi³
    • Yale: bǐ
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: bii
    • Palladius: би (bi)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /pi²¹⁴/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: bei² / bei⁶ / bei³
    • Yale: béi / beih / bei
    • Cantonese Pinyin: bei² / bei⁶ / bei³
    • Guangdong Romanization: béi² / béi⁶ / béi³
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /pei̯³⁵/, /pei̯²²/, /pei̯³³/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: pí
    • Hakka Romanization System: bi^ˋ
    • Hagfa Pinyim: bi³
    • Sinological IPA: /pi³¹/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: pí
    • Tâi-lô: pí
    • Phofsit Daibuun: pie
    • IPA (Xiamen): /pi⁵³/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /pi⁵⁵⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /pi⁵³/
    • IPA (Taipei): /pi⁵³/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /pi⁴¹/
  • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: bi³
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: pì
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /pi²¹³/

---

• Middle Chinese: pjijX

Rime
Character	匕
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	幫 (1)
Final (韻)	脂 (15)
Tone (調)	Rising (X)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	III
Fanqie	卑履切
Baxter	pjijX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/piɪX/
Pan Wuyun	/piX/
Shao Rongfen	/pjɪX/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/piX/
Li Rong	/piX/
Wang Li	/piX/
Bernhard Karlgren	/piX/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	bǐ
Expected Cantonese Reflex	bei2

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*pijʔ/

  (Zhengzhang): /*pilʔ/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	匕	匕
Reading #	1/2	2/2
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	bǐ	bǐ
Middle Chinese	‹ pjijX ›	‹ pjijX ›
Old Chinese	/*pijʔ/	/*pijʔ/
English	ladle, spoon	spoon
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	匕
Reading #	1/1
No.	484
Phonetic component	匕
Rime group	脂
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	匕
Old Chinese	/*pilʔ/

Definitions

匕

1. (historical) a kind of spoon in ancient China
2. (literary) dagger
3. ^† arrow
4. ^† people
5. ^‡ Original form of 妣 (bǐ, “deceased mother”).
6. Occasionally used as an iteration marker.

Compounds

• 匕箸
• 匕首
• 匕鬯 (bǐchàng)
• 匕鬯不驚／匕鬯不惊 (bǐchàngbùjīng)
• 圖窮匕現／图穷匕现 (túqióngbǐxiàn)
• 圖窮匕見／图穷匕见 (túqióngbǐxiàn)

 

Etymology 2

For pronunciation and definitions of 匕 – see 牝 (“(of an animal) female”). (This character is recorded in one or more historical dictionaries as a variant form of 牝).

Japanese

Kanji

匕

(Hyōgai kanji)

Readings

• Go-on: ひ (hi)
• Kan-on: ひ (hi)
• Kun: さじ (saji, 匕)

Compounds

• 匕首(あいくち) (aikuchi)
• 匕(ひ)首(しゅ) (hishu)

Definitions

Kanji in this term
匕
ひ Hyōgai
on'yomi

Kanji in this term
匕
さじ Hyōgai
kun'yomi

For pronunciation and definitions of 匕 – see the following entry.

【匙ひ】H [affix] spoon, scoop 【匙かい】H [noun] (obsolete) a scoop for food [noun] (archaic, rare) a wooden sword for training 【匙さじ】H [noun] spoon, scoop used for food [noun] more specifically, a spoon or scoop used for compounding medicine [noun] by extension, medicine [noun] by further extension, a doctor

(This term, 匕, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)

Korean

Hanja

匕 (eumhun 비수 비 (bisu bi))

1. spoon
2. dagger

Vietnamese

Han character

匕: Hán Nôm readings: chủy/chuỷ

匕 is used as an iteration marker here such as in the line, 埃匕𠳺匕麻𦖑 (Ai ai lẳng lặng mà nghe)

1. In Vietnamese Hán Nôm texts, 匕 is used as an iteration marker.