票 (piào) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

票

piào[piao4]Tone 4

ticket

HSK 1

Guru Deep Dive

English · ticket

Cached lesson

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Topology:Top-bottom

Strokes:11

Writing Balance Rule: The upper part (覀/𠂭) must sit compactly over the bottom part (示), keeping the central vertical line balanced.

1. Meaning

ticket, ballot, or banknote

person held for ransomamateur performance of Chinese operaclassifier for groups, batches, or business transactions

Noun and ClassifierNeutral#travel#finance#governance#entertainment

Sample Usage

我要买一张去北京的火车票。
wǒ yào mǎi yī zhāng qù Běijīng de huǒchē piào.
I want to buy a train ticket to Beijing.
请大家在选票上写下名字。
qǐng dàjiā zài xuǎnpiào shàng xiě xià míngzì.
Please write your name on the ballot.

2. Sound

/[pʰi̯ɑʊ̯⁵¹]/Tone: 51

票

piàopiao4

`(51)

=piào

Initial Consonant

Type: Aspirated Bilabial

Sounds like: p sound as in 'pen'

Aspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Strong puff of air! A tissue held before lips MUST fly forward.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Lips pressed together firmly, then released with a sharp burst of air.

Final Rhyme

iao

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: -iao rhymes with yow in 'yowl'

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

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 straight down, like an authoritative command or an emphatic 'No!'

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the third tone pǐao with the fourth tone piào. Remember that the fourth tone drops sharply and decisively.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Tone 4 is a sharp downward slash, mirroring a firm chop or stamping a ticket downward.

3. Writing

Topology: Top-bottom · Strokes: 11 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The upper part (覀/𠂭) must sit compactly over the bottom part (示), keeping the central vertical line balanced.

4. Components

Radical 示 · Spirit/Show Radical (altar, spirit, manifestation)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 示 (Indicates something displayed, certified, or presented for official viewing.)

Composed of the top element (originally representing fire or signs) sitting above 示 (altar/manifestation), symbolizing a documented token or slip displayed to verify authority.

覀 Upper cover or net shape
示 Altar / showing

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

22· Phonetic Root: 票 (piào)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally derived from characters depicting ancient slips or tallies used for accounting and official documents, combining elements of display and verification.

Semantic Evolution: Shifted from ancient tally slips and documents to modern admissions tickets, paper currency, and ballots.

Historically used to describe currency notes (such as silver notes) before modern fiat money.

6. Sinosphere

🇻🇳

Sino-Vietnamese

phiếu

High rising tone in Sino-Vietnamese corresponds to falling tone in Mandarin via historical tone evolution.

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: ヒョウ

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

표

Sound Shift Bridge: Shared East Asian cultural vocabulary cognates exist in Japanese (きっぷ for ticket, though different kanji) and Sino-Korean (표).

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

You hold a paper **ticket** (piào) over an **altar** (示) to prove your entry.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

漂

piāoto floatAdds water (氵) on the left for things floating on water.

剽

piāoto plunder / agileAdds knife (刂) on the right for swift slashing actions.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

漂(piāo)

漂 has the water radical (氵) meaning floating, whereas 票 has the altar/show radical (示) meaning ticket.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

我买了一___去上海的高铁票。

Clue: zhāng

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the measure word for tickets; learners often use gè (个) instead of zhāng (张).

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does 票 (piào) mean when you travel?

Production: How do you write the Chinese word for 'ticket' using Pinyin?

票piàoticket

Speed:

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