錶 (biǎo) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

錶

biǎo[biao3]Tone 3

watch or meter

HSK 2

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表

Guru Deep Dive

English · watch or meter

Cached lesson

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Topology:Top-bottom

Strokes:8

Writing Balance Rule: The top horizontal and the upper components must balance stably over the wider lower base part, maintaining a clean vertical axis down the center.

Simplification Logic: In mainland China, the simplified form '表' serves as both the standalone noun for 'meter/surface' and historically merged with the traditional timepiece character '錶' (which adds the gold/metal radical 钅 on the left).

1. Meaning

watch (timepiece), meter, gauge

to show, to express, to manifestsurface, exterior, outside

Noun / Classifier / VerbNeutral#time#measurement#instruments

Sample Usage

我的表快了五分钟。
wǒ de biǎo kuài le wǔ fēnzhōng.
My watch is five minutes fast.
水表坏了。
shuǐbiǎo huài le.
The water meter is broken.

2. Sound

/[pjaʊ̯²¹⁴]/Tone: 214

錶

biǎobiao3

ˇ(214)

=biǎo

Initial Consonant

Type: Unaspirated Bilabial

Sounds like: English b sound

Unaspirated

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

Tongue & Mouth Position: Both lips pressed together lightly and released with a soft voiced plosive burst.

Final Rhyme

iao

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: Rhymes with 'meow'

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

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

Tone

T3 (214)

2 → 1 → 4 (214)

3rd Tone (Low-Dipping)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 3 dips low and rises, similar to saying 'Really?' in disbelief.

Sandhi: When followed by another 3rd tone, biǎo changes to a 2nd tone (rising 35), e.g., biǎo xiàn becomes biáo xiàn.

👂

Listening trap: Do not confuse with biāo (1st tone, high level) or biào (4th tone, sharp drop). The 3rd tone requires the characteristic low dip.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Trace a checkmark in the air: dip down from chest level to your stomach and sweep back up to shoulder height.

3. Writing

Topology: Top-bottom · Strokes: 8 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The top horizontal and the upper components must balance stably over the wider lower base part, maintaining a clean vertical axis down the center.

4. Components

Radical 衣 · Clothes Radical (Clothing, garments, or covering)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 毛 (Provides the upper phonetic and visual structure hint)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 毛 (original sound: máo/biǎo phonetic stream)

The character combines an outer garment covering (衣) with a furry or light surface element (毛), symbolizing something worn on the outside of the body or surface.

毛 Upper portion acting as structural/phonetic component
衣 Lower portion (written as /⺥) representing garments or covering

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

3· Phonetic Root: 表 (biǎo)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally represented the outer garment or fur coat worn on the body (from 毛 fur and 衣 clothing). Over time, the meaning shifted from outer garments to 'surface', 'exterior', 'expressing outwardly', and eventually modern measuring devices and watches attached externally.

Semantic Evolution: Outer clothing -> Outer surface -> To express/show -> Instrument measuring outer parameters (meter) -> Timepiece worn on the wrist (watch).

In modern simplified Chinese, '表' is used for both timepiece and meter, whereas traditional Chinese retains '錶' for mechanical watches.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: ヒョウ / Kun: おもて

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

표

Sound Shift Bridge: Japanese On'yomi 'hyou' shares a cognate phonetic root with Mandarin 'biǎo'.

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

You wear your furry (毛) coat (衣) outside, and on your wrist you check your sparkling new WATCH to see if you are late.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

俵

biáoto distribute, to expressAdd the person radical (亻) for distributing among people.

裱

biǎoto mount (paintings or calligraphy)Add the silk/thread radical (纟) for mounting scrolls.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

末(mò)

The top line of 末 is longer than the second line (tip/end), whereas in 表 the upper part has a distinct vertical/hook structure derived from 毛.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

請問現在幾點？我的[___]停了。

Clue: biǎo

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the 3rd tone contour of biǎo with flat or falling tones, resulting in unnatural pronunciation when asking for the time.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does 表 mean when you see it in '手表' (shǒubiǎo) or '水表' (shuǐbiǎo)?

Production: How do you write and pronounce the character for a wristwatch or utility meter in Mandarin?

錶biǎowatch or meter

Speed:

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