笔画 (bǐ huà) — strokes of a Chinese character

Definition

noun
strokes of a Chinese character
Easily confused

Examples

  • ，笔画。
    Xué xí hàn zì shí, yào xiān jì zhù měi gè zì de bǐ huà shùn xù.
    When learning Chinese characters, you need to remember the stroke order of each character first.
  • 笔画，。
    Zhè ge zì de bǐ huà hěn duō, xiě qǐ lái bǐ jiào má fan.
    This character has many strokes, making it more troublesome to write.
  • ‘’，笔画。
    Lǎo shī jiào wǒ men xiě 'yǒng' zì, yīn wèi tā bāo hán le suǒ yǒu jī běn bǐ huà.
    The teacher taught us to write 'yong' because it contains all the basic strokes.

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.

笔bǐpen
画huàstroke

The 画 (strokes) made by a 笔 (pen) form the lines of a character.

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 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 →

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 畫; 画 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
聿聿yùbrush
Sound part声符shēngfú
規
規guī畫huà
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 畫 pairs 聿, a brush, with 規 for its sound. The simplified 画 is a later shorthand, so its parts are not the old parts.

Open 画 →

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