餅 (bǐng) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

餅

bǐng[bing3]Tone 3

round flat cake, pastry

HSK 5

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饼

Guru Deep Dive

English · round flat cake, pastry

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:9

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (饣) should be compressed slightly to make space for the right phonetic component (并), keeping the entire character neatly balanced within an imaginary square.

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 餅 uses the full radical 食 (food) on the left, which is simplified to 饣 in the modern simplified character 饼.

1. Meaning

round flat cake

cookiebiscuitpastry

NounNeutral#food#bakery#cuisine

Sample Usage

我早上吃了两个肉饼。
wǒ zǎoshang chī le liǎng gè ròubǐng.
I ate two meat pies this morning.
中秋节我们要吃月饼。
zhōngqiūjié wǒmen yào chī yuèbǐng.
We eat mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

2. Sound

/[peŋ²¹⁴]/Tone: 214

餅

bǐngbing3

ˇ(214)

=bǐng

Initial Consonant

Type: Unaspirated Bilabial

Sounds like: b as in bat

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

ing

Vowel Group: -i vowel group

Sounds like: -ing rhymes with sing

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

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 'What?' in disbelief.

Sandhi: When followed by another 3rd tone syllable, this character changes to a 2nd tone (rising 35).

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the third tone dipping pitch with the first or fourth tones, or mixing up '-ing' with '-eng'.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Trace a checkmark in the air: dip down from your chest and sweep up to the right.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 9 strokes

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 餅 uses the full radical 食 (food) on the left, which is simplified to 饣 in the modern simplified character 饼.

4. Components

Radical 饣 · Food radical (food, eating, kitchen)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 饣 (Indicates that the word refers to food or something edible.)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 并 (original sound: bìng)

The food radical (饣) on the left pairs with the phonetic component 'together' (并) on the right to represent something made from dough pressed together into a flat cake.

饣 Food radical
并 Phonetic clue providing the 'bìng' sound

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

8· Phonetic Root: 并 (bìng)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally formed by combining 食 (food) with 并 (side by side/together) to denote flat, pressed food items made of grain.

Semantic Evolution: Originally referred broadly to various kinds of flatbread or pasted dough, later expanding to include cookies, pastries, and modern treats like mooncakes and pancakes.

In ancient China, '饼' referred to almost any food made from wheat flour dough, whether steamed, boiled, or baked.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: ヘイ (hei)

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

병

Sound Shift Bridge: The phonetic component provides a consistent rhyme across related characters.

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Imagine bringing together (并) some delicious food (饣) to press it flat into a sweet cookie or round flat cake (饼).

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

拼

pīnto piece togetherUses hand radical (扌) instead of food radical (饣).

屏

píngscreenUses corpse radical (尸) instead of food radical (饣).

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

并(bìng)

Missing the food radical (饣) on the left; means 'and' or 'side by side'.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

中鞦節的時候，大家都會吃月[___]。

Clue: bǐng

Common Learner Pitfall

Forgetting to write the food radical (饣) and only writing the right-hand phonetic component (并).

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does '饼' mean and how is it pronounced?

Production: How do you write the character for 'round flat cake / pastry' (bǐng)?

餅bǐnground flat cake, pastry

Speed:

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