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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

Chinese

被

bèi
bedding; quilt; blanket (Classifier: 床 m; 張／张 c; 領／领 mn)
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 3
  • TOCFL 3
  • radical 衣
  • 11 strokes

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Origin

The character 被 is a phono-semantic compound. It consists of the semantic component 衣, meaning clothing, and the phonetic component 皮. According to the Shuowen Jiezi, the character refers to a garment that is long enough to cover the body with some extra length.

In some contexts, the character is related to 披. It can mean to drape clothing on the body or to scatter. The meaning of the character as a passive marker is an extension of the sense "to wear" or "to be covered by something."

Oldest attested scripts for this character include bronze, chu, qin, seal, and regular scripts. It is considered cognate with 披 (OC *pʰral, *pʰralʔ).

Confidence: high · written by gemma4:26b, checked statement-by-statement against the sources below.

「被」屬於形聲字，由意符「衣」與聲符「皮」構成。根據《說文解字》，其描述為「𡪢衣，長一身有半」，意指長度足以覆蓋身體一半的衣物。在早期文字中，此字已見於青銅器、楚系文字、秦系文字、小篆及楷書。在語義方面，它與「披」相關，意指將衣物披掛在身上，或有分散之意。

在音韻演變上，「被」的原始漢語構建為 *bralʔ 或 *brals，與「披」（原始漢語 *pʰral 或 *pʰralʔ）互為同源詞。其作為被動標記的用法，是從「穿戴」或「被某物覆蓋」的意義延伸而來。在現代用法中，「被」可指被褥、被單或毯子，量詞可使用「床」、「張」或「領」。

Confidence: high · written by gemma4:26b, checked statement-by-statement against the sources below.

Lineage

  • meaningChinese衣 “garment; clothes; clothing (Classifier: 件)”
  • soundChinese皮 “skin; peel; shell; rind (Classifier: 塊／块 m c; 層／层 m c)”

Words built on it: 被迫

Wiktionary etymology text

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *bralʔ, *brals): semantic 衣 (“clothing”) + phonetic 皮 (OC *bral).

Cognate with 披 (OC *pʰral, *pʰralʔ). The meaning of passive marker is an extension of "to wear; to be covered by something".

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Meanings

character
  1. bedding; quilt; blanket (Classifier: 床 m; 張／张 c; 領／领 mn)

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

被：𡪢衣，長一身有半。从衣皮聲。

Xu Shen, c. 100 CE — the first analytical dictionary of Chinese characters.

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 分散。通「披」。 例：微管仲，吾其被髮左衽矣！（《論語．憲問》）
  2. 將衣物披搭在身上。通「披」。 例：操吳戈兮被犀甲。（《楚辭．屈原．九歌．國殤》）

© Ministry of Education, Taiwan — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW, shown unaltered.

How 被 was written 字形演變

  1. 被 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  2. 被 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  3. 被 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  4. 被 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  5. 被 in Regular script
    Regular
    楷書
    since c. 200 CE

Historical forms collected by the legacy etymfun dataset; most characters have several attested variants.

Sources

  • etymagent (local gemma4:26b) — Generated
  • Historical glyph forms (zdic.net 字形演变) — Rights unverified
  • HSK / TOCFL word lists — Facts (levels)
  • 教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
  • 說文解字 Shuowen Jiezi (Xu Shen, c. 100 CE) — Public domain
  • Written form — n/a
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 被