Read Edit View history Discussion 贲 bēnbìfénféi forge ahead Origin Definitions Defs Strokes Stroke Words Sentences Sents ← Back to history approved by inralback19 · Jan 25, 2026, 05:14 PM verify Changed fields: isVerified, customSources Original meaning: adornment Phonosemantic compound. 贝 represents the meaning and 卉 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "adornment". The current meaning is a phonetic loan. Components 犇 犇 Sound component bēn run fast Change in form Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 犇 than it was in ancient scripts.贝 贝 Meaning component bèi sea shell Change in meaning 贝 hints at the original meaning of 贲, "adornment", which is no longer the most common meaning of 贲 in modern Mandarin. Sources Character origin 漢語多功能字庫Readings & variants Unicode