憊 (bèi) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

憊

bèi[bei4]Tone 4

exhausted

HSK 7

View Simplified FormSwitch to Simplified

惫

Guru Deep Dive

English · exhausted

Cached lesson

1 / 1

Topology:Top-bottom

Strokes:14

Writing Balance Rule: Keep the upper heart component (心) compact and centered, while the lower part (惫's phonetic base 冒) provides a broad, stable foundation without collapsing.

Simplification Logic: Traditional '憊' replaces the lower heart element with a phonetic/semantic stack, maintaining visual balance in the simplified version '惫'.

1. Meaning

exhausted, tired, fatigued

worn outweary

AdjectiveFormal / LiteraryBound morpheme#physical state#emotions#health

Sample Usage

疲惫
píbèi
exhausted, fatigued
筋疲力惫
jīnpílìbèi
exhausted and drained of all strength (idiom)

2. Sound

/[peɪ̯⁵¹]/Tone: 51

憊

bèibei4

`(51)

=bèi

Build the syllable

Step-by-step blending

bei

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

Type: Unaspirated Bilabial

Sounds like: b sound in 'bat'

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: No burst of air. A tissue in front of lips should stay still.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Lips press together briefly to release the voiced bilabial stop.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -e vowel group

Sounds like: ey in 'hey'

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'ay'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T4 (51)

5 → 1 (51)

4th Tone (High-Falling)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 4 starts high and plunges sharply to the bottom, much like shouting 'No!' in frustration or letting out an exhausted groan.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the Tone 4 falling tone with Tone 2 rising tone (béi vs běi).

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A quick, sharp downward chop of the hand, mimicking a falling leaf or a sigh of fatigue.

3. Writing

Topology: Top-bottom · Strokes: 14 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: Keep the upper heart component (心) compact and centered, while the lower part (惫's phonetic base 冒) provides a broad, stable foundation without collapsing.

Simplification Logic: Traditional '憊' replaces the lower heart element with a phonetic/semantic stack, maintaining visual balance in the simplified version '惫'.

4. Components

Radical 心 · Heart Radical (Heart, emotions, states of mind or body)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 心 (Indicates that the exhaustion is deeply felt in one's heart, mind, and energy.)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 冒 (original sound: mào / bèi)

The character combines the heart radical (心) at the bottom with the top phonetic/semantic element (冒), depicting a mind and body so heavily covered and burdened (冒) that the heart (心) gives up from exhaustion.

冒 Top component providing phonetic and visual structure
心 Bottom heart radical indicating emotional or physical state

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

2· Phonetic Root: 備

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combining '冒' (covering/exceeding limits) with '心' (heart/mind), originally expressing the mental state of being overwhelmed beyond capacity.

Semantic Evolution: Shifted from being mentally clouded or overwhelmed to the general modern sense of physical and mental exhaustion.

Often paired with 疲 (pí) to form '疲惫', which is the standard modern compound word for fatigue.

6. Sinosphere

🇻🇳

Sino-Vietnamese

bệ

Mandarin Tone 4 corresponds roughly to the Vietnamese nặng or sắc tone contour family.

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: ハイ / Kun: つかれる

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

비

Sound Shift Bridge: The initial 'b-' remains remarkably consistent across cognate pathways in Sino-Xenic readings.

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

You try to **B**uy **EI**ght heavy items while completely **exhausted** (bèi). Your heart (心) feels like it is covered over (冒) with a heavy blanket because you are so tired.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

備

Phonetic Core (声旁)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

备(bèi)

备 means 'prepare' and uses a simplified structure without the heart component.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

工作了一整天，他感到非常疲[___]。

Clue: bèi

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing it with 备 (bèi - prepare) because of identical pronunciation and similar visual roots.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does 惫 mean when you see it in the word 疲惫?

Production: How do you write the character for 'exhausted' (bèi) with the heart radical at the bottom?

憊bèiexhausted

Speed:

Searching YouTube for native pronunciation videos...

0 / 0