鼻
bí HSK5

nose

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approved by Marcus Ngai · Aug 6, 2026, 02:50 AM · Reviewed by Marcus Ngai on Aug 6, 2026, 02:50 AM

tweaked etym. desc.

Changed fields: hint

Originally written as 自, a pictograph of a nose. Phonosemantic compound. 自 represents the meaning and 畀 represents the sound.

Components

自
自 SoundIconic component
zì (nose), self

Depicts a nose.

Change in sound
畀
畀 Sound component
bì to give

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartbjijHCə-bi[t]-s smell (v.t.)
bjijHm-bi[t]-s nose

說文解字

《說文》:“鼻,引气自畀也。从自、畀。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.279
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica