比
bǐBǐbī HSK1

to compare

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approved by inralback19 · Feb 12, 2026, 11:35 PM · Reviewed by inralback19 on Feb 12, 2026, 11:35 PM

Rollback x8fGrnfxo2cQ56ZuA

Changed fields: hint, isVerified, components, customSources, strokeDataSimp, fragmentsSimp, historicalImages

Two spoons side-by-side, conveying the meaning "to put together", "match", or "compare". 匕 also represents the sound.

Components

匕
匕 SoundIconic component

Depicts a spoon.

匕
匕 SoundIconic component

Depicts a spoon.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartpjijXC.pijʔ compare
pjijHpij-s combine; all

說文解字

《說文》：“比，密也。二人為从，反从為比。夶，古文比。”

Sources

Character origin
尤梓竹《甲骨文字考釋提要（一）》p.56李学勤《字源》p.725
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)