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文笔 (wén bǐ) — literary talent; style of writing; (literary) pen; writing brush

Definition

noun
literary talentstyle of writing(literary) penwriting brush

Examples

  • 文笔，。
    Tā de wén bǐ fēi cháng yōu měi, dú qǐ lái hěn shū fu.
    His writing style is very elegant and comfortable to read.
  • 文笔，。
    Zhè piān wén zhāng de wén bǐ hěn xī lì, guān diǎn xiān míng.
    The writing style of this article is very sharp, with clear viewpoints.
  • 文笔，。
    Tā bù jǐn wén bǐ hǎo, ér qiě sī xiǎng shēn kè.
    He not only has good literary talent, but also deep thoughts.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

文wénwriting
笔bǐpen

“文” means writing and “笔” means pen, together giving a writing style or literary pen.

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

The current form 文 shows a man with head, arms, legs, and chest; the tattoo marks on the chest are no longer drawn.

Open 文 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 筆; 笔 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
竹竹zhúbamboo
Sound part声符shēngfú
聿
聿yù筆bǐ
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The simplified 笔 is based on the traditional form 筆, which puts 竹 (bamboo) beside 聿 (writing brush). 聿 already meant the brush and supplied the sound; 竹 was added later to show it was made of bamboo.

Open 笔 →
Appears in
Literature & PoetryReading & Writing

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