to drape over one's shoulders
English · to drape over one's shoulders
to drape over one's shoulders
- 他披上一件大衣。tā pī shàng yī jiàn dàyī.He draped an overcoat over his shoulders.
- 披星戴月pī xīng dài yuèto work under the stars and moon (literally: draped in stars and wearing the moon)
Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 8 strokes
Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (Hand radical) should be compact and narrower, leaving ample space for the right component (pī) to breathe and maintain proper left-right symmetry.
Radical 扌 · Hand radical (hand, manual action)
Semantic Clue (形旁): 扌 (indicates an action performed with the hands, such as draping or opening)
Phonetic Clue (声旁): 不 (original sound: pi)
The Hand radical (扌) on the left joins with the sound-giving component 'Not' (不) on the right to show the physical action of draping a garment over oneself with one's hands.
- 扌 Hand action
- 不 Phonetic and structural component
Origin: Combined from the hand radical (扌) representing physical wrapping or draping, and (不) providing the phonetic reading. Over time, it came to mean throwing a cape or coat loosely over the shoulders.
Semantic Evolution: Originally denoting the physical action of opening or splitting apart, it expanded to mean draping garments loosely over the body, which remains its most common modern usage.
- Frequently used in classical and modern Chinese literature to describe warriors wearing cloaks or travelers braving the elements.
With your own two hands (扌), you grab a coat that is definitely NOT (不) warm enough, and you DRAPE (pī) it over your shoulders anyway.
pīConfusing 'pī' with other action verbs involving clothing, or forgetting that it implies a loose draping motion rather than fully inserting arms into sleeves (which uses 'chuān').
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