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败笔 (bài bǐ) — faulty stroke (in calligraphy or painting); flawed part or passage (in a piece of writing or artwork); hack writer; poor writer

Definition

Literally 'a failed stroke' from calligraphy, now used for any obvious flaw that spoils an otherwise good work — a chapter, a plan, a design. A figurative 瑕疵.

noun
faulty stroke (in calligraphy or painting)flawed part or passage (in a piece of writing or artwork)hack writerpoor writer

Examples

  • 败笔。
    Zhè fú huà de bài bǐ pò huài le zhěng tǐ měi gǎn.
    The faulty stroke in this painting ruins the overall aesthetic.
  • 败笔。
    Zhè piān xiǎo shuō de zuì hòu yì zhāng shì yí chù míng xiǎn de bài bǐ.
    The last chapter of this novel is an obvious flaw.
  • 。
    Zhè ge jì huà de zhí xíng huán jié shì yí dà bài bǐ.
    The implementation part of this plan is a major flaw.

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.

败bàifaulty
笔bǐstroke

败 conveys failure or flaw, and 笔 refers to a stroke or written part, giving a faulty stroke.

Characters in this word

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 敗; 败 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
攵Written in full as攴pūstrike
Sound part声符shēngfú
貝
貝bèi敗bài
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 敗 has 貝 as the sound component and 攴 (written 攵) meaning strike. The simplified 败 is a later abbreviation, so its parts are not the original components.

Open 败 →

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
Art & Fine Arts

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