Writing Balance Rule: Ensure the top half is compact and lifted, while the bottom horizontal strokes are balanced evenly to prevent the character from looking top-heavy.
Tone mark placement: Tone mark sits on "e" per main-vowel priority (a > e > o; in -iu/-ui the mark takes the second vowel).
Initial Consonant
b
Type: Unaspirated Bilabial
Sounds like: b sound like in English 'boy'
Unaspirated
Airflow Tactile Test: No burst of air. A tissue in front of lips should stay still.
Tongue & Mouth Position: Both lips pressed firmly together to build up air pressure, then released cleanly with voice.
Final Rhyme
ei
Vowel Group: -e vowel group
Sounds like: -ei rhymes with 'ay' in 'pay'
Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'ay'.
Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.
Tone
T1 (55)
5 → 5 (55)
1st Tone (High-Flat)
Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 1 is high and level, matching a steady, flat pitch like saying 'ah' while a doctor checks your throat.
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Listening trap: Do not confuse the first tone flat pitch with a rising tone; keep it completely steady and level without any upward slope.
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Physical Tone Gesture: Imagine holding a high, flat musical note like a singer warming up on a single pitch; gesture with a flat horizontal hand moving straight across at eye level.
3. Writing
Topology: Top-bottom · Strokes: 5 strokes
Writing Balance Rule: Ensure the top half is compact and lifted, while the bottom horizontal strokes are balanced evenly to prevent the character from looking top-heavy.
4. Components
Radical十 · Ten Radical (ten, complete)
The character visually combines a hand or tool shape with a base line, representing a person bending down low to the ground.
丿 Slanted top stroke
十 Cross component forming the lower structure
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
17· Phonetic Root: 卑 (bēi)
5. History
Liushu category: Pictogram (象形)
Origin: In ancient oracle bone script, 卑 originally depicted a person holding a wine vessel or standing bent over in a subservient posture, indicating low status or humbleness.
Semantic Evolution: From the physical posture of bending down or being low, it extended to mean inferior status, low rank, and eventually moral humbleness or vulgarity.
Ancient texts used 卑 to contrast with 尊 (zūn - honored, noble), creating the classic social binary of high and low.
6. Sinosphere
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Kanji (Japanese)
On: ヒ / Kun: いや.しい, いや.しむ, いや.しめる
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Hanja (Korean)
비
7. Memory
Vivid Mnemonic Story
Picture a humble person standing at position NUMBER TEN, bowing down low because they feel inferior to everyone else.