赔 (péi) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

赔

péi[pei2]Tone 2

compensate, indemnify, suffer a financial loss

HSK 5

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賠

Guru Deep Dive

English · compensate, indemnify, suffer a financial loss

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:12

Writing Balance Rule: Keep the left radical (贝) compact and narrow, leaving plenty of breathing room for the more complex right phonetic component (市).

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 賠 uses 貝 for valuables/money and 咅 for sound. Simplified 赔 preserves 贝 on the left.

1. Meaning

to compensate for loss, indemnify, or pay damages

to suffer a financial lossto lose money in businessto accompany (dialectal or older usage)

VerbNeutral#finance#law#commerce#liability

Sample Usage

撞坏了别人的车，他必须赔钱。
Zhuàng huài le biérén de chē, tā bìxū péi qián.
He crashed someone else's car and must compensate them with money.
做这个生意不但没赚，反而赔了。
Zuò zhè gè shēngyì búdàn méi zhuàn, fǎn'ér péi le.
Doing this business not only didn't make a profit, but instead suffered a financial loss.

2. Sound

/[pʰeɪ̯³⁵]/Tone: 35

赔

péipei2

´(35)

=péi

Initial Consonant

Type: Aspirated Bilabial

Sounds like: p sound as in 'pay'

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 strong puff of air.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -e vowel group

Sounds like: -ei rhymes with 'day' or 'pay'

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

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

Tone

T2 (35)

3 → 5 (35)

2nd Tone (Mid-Rising)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 2 rises from mid to high pitch, exactly like asking a surprised question in English: 'Pay?'

Sandhi: When followed by another Tone 2, the tone shifts slightly to a half-rising pitch before the next syllable.

👂

Listening trap: Do not confuse with 'bēi' (Tone 1) or 'péng' (different rhyme ending). Listen closely to the rising second tone.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Make a rising hand gesture starting from chest level and lifting upward into the air, mirroring the rising 35 pitch contour.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 12 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: Keep the left radical (贝) compact and narrow, leaving plenty of breathing room for the more complex right phonetic component (市).

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 賠 uses 貝 for valuables/money and 咅 for sound. Simplified 赔 preserves 贝 on the left.

4. Components

Radical 贝 · Shell / Money Radical (Wealth, money, currency, valuables)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 贝 (Indicates that the action relates to money, wealth, or financial compensation.)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 咅 (original sound: pěi)

Money (贝) and market/stand (市/咅) combine to show that when you lose money at the market square, you have to compensate (赔) for it.

贝 Money, wealth, value
咅 Phonetic indicator providing the 'pei' sound

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

16· Phonetic Root: 咅 (pǒu)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from the semantic element 贝 (shell/money) representing property and trade value, and a phonetic sound element giving the pronunciation.

Semantic Evolution: Originally related to valuation and property exchange, it narrowed to mean paying back losses, indemnifying, and suffering business deficits.

Ancient shells (贝) served as currency in early China, which is why financial characters universally feature this radical.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: バイ / Kun: つぐなう

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

배

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

You lose your money (贝) at the trading booth (咅), so you have to PAY (péi) back compensation to the owner.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

培

péito cultivate, to bank up with earthUses earth radical (土) instead of money (贝) for growing plants in soil.

剖

pōuto cut open, to dissectUses knife radical (刂) for cutting.

陪

péito accompanyUses mound radical (阝) for accompanying someone.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

陪(péi)

陪 uses the left mound radical (阝) for standing beside someone (accompany), whereas 赔 uses the shell/money radical (贝) for financial compensation.

培(péi)

培 uses the earth radical (土) for cultivating soil, whereas 赔 uses money (贝) for financial matters.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

不小心把人家的花瓶打破了，我必须 [___] 钱。

Clue: péi

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing 赔 (péi - compensate) with 陪 (péi - accompany) due to identical pinyin and tone, ignoring the fundamental difference between the money radical (贝) and the mound radical (阝).

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see 赔, what is its primary economic or legal meaning?

Production: How do you write the character for 'to compensate / suffer financial loss' with pinyin péi?

赔péicompensate, indemnify, suffer a financial loss

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