HanziGuru.啤 · pí
啤
pí[pi2]Tone 2

beer

HSK 3
Guru Deep Dive

English · beer

Cached lesson
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Topology:Left-right
Strokes:11
Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (口) occupies about one-third of the horizontal space and sits higher, while the right component (卑) takes up the remaining two-thirds and extends slightly lower.
1. Meaning

beer

alcoholic malt beverage
NounColloquial#beverages#food and drink#social gatherings
Sample Usage
  • 我喜欢喝冰啤酒。
    wǒ xǐhuān hē bīng píjiǔ.
    I like to drink cold beer.
  • 来两瓶啤酒！
    lái liǎng píng píjiǔ!
    Bring two bottles of beer!
2. Sound
/[pʰi³⁵]/Tone: 35
啤
pípi2
++
´(35)
=pí
Initial Consonant
p
Type: Aspirated Bilabial
Sounds like: p sound in 'pet'
Aspirated
Airflow Tactile Test: Strong puff of air! A tissue held before lips MUST fly forward.
Tongue & Mouth Position: Lips closed together, releasing a strong puff of air, tongue flat at the bottom of the mouth.
Final Rhyme
i
Vowel Group: -i vowel group
Sounds like: ee sound in 'see'
Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'ee'.
Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.
Tone
T2 (35)
2nd Tone (Mid-Rising)
Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 2 rises just like when you say 'Really?' in English with an upward inflection at the end.
Sandhi: When followed by another Tone 2, it shifts slightly, but as a standalone syllable it keeps its rising 35 pitch contour.
👂
Listening trap: Confusing it with Tone 4 (pì) or Tone 1 (pī). Make sure the pitch starts mid-low and rises clearly to the top.
👋
Physical Tone Gesture: A rising hand sweep upward from left to right, matching the inquiring pitch of asking 'What?' in English.
3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 11 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (口) occupies about one-third of the horizontal space and sits higher, while the right component (卑) takes up the remaining two-thirds and extends slightly lower.

4. Components

Radical 口 · Mouth Radical (mouth, speaking, eating, drinking)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 口 (Indicates that this character relates to something consumed through the mouth (drinking/beverage).)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 卑 (original sound: bēi / pí)

A phonetic loan character created in modern times: combining the mouth radical (口) on the left—since beer is something you drink with your mouth—with the sound-alike component 卑 (bēi) on the right to give it the 'pi' pronunciation.

  • 口 Mouth semantic clue for eating and drinking
  • 卑 Phonetic phonetic clue providing the 'p- ' sound
5. History
Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: This is a modern phonetic-loan character invented in the 20th century to transliterate the foreign loanword 'beer' (啤酒). Ancient Chinese did not have a native character for beer, so they paired the mouth radical (口) with a phonetic sound-alike (卑).

Semantic Evolution: Created specifically as a phonetic transcription for 'beer', it quickly became standard across Chinese-speaking regions.

  • Beer was introduced to China by Western powers and Russian immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, necessitating a new character.
  • The character is a classic example of how modern Chinese adapts foreign words using existing morphological building blocks.
6. Sinosphere
🇯🇵
Kanji (Japanese)
On: ヒ
Sound Shift Bridge: The character '啤' was invented purely for its phonetic sound to match the Western word 'beer', operating as a phonetic loan rather than an ancient etymological root.
7. Memory
Vivid Mnemonic Story

You open your **mouth** (口) to order a cold **beer** at the bar, while feeling quite **humble** (卑) because you have no money left.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
碑
bēistone tabletReplaces the mouth radical with stone (石), referring to stone monuments.
脾
píspleenReplaces the mouth radical with flesh/meat (月), referring to internal body organs.
鄄
juànplace nameUses different structural surroundings while sharing components.
Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)
脾(pí)
脾 has the flesh/moon radical (月) on the left because it means 'spleen', whereas 啤 has the mouth radical (口) because you drink 'beer'.
碑(bēi)
碑 has the stone radical (石) on the left for stone tablets, not the mouth radical (口).
8. Mastery
Active Recall Challenge
我今天晚饭想喝一杯冰[___]。
Clue: pí jiǔ
Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing 啤 (pí - beer) with 脾 (pí - spleen) because they share the exact same pronunciation and tone, differing only in their left-side radical.

Memory Prompts
Recognition: When you see the character 啤 with a mouth radical on the left, what beverage does it represent?
Production: How do you write the character for 'beer' (pí), and what radical indicates that it is consumed orally?
Real-World Video Context

Watch authentic native speakers pronounce and explain this word in real-world YouTube videos.

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