HSK 6 · Emotions

自卑 zìbēi “to feel inferior” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 自卑 means

  1. to feel inferior
  2. low self-esteem
  3. to have low self-esteem
  4. to abase oneself

How to say 自卑

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale自zì4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale卑bēi1st tone, high and level

自卑 in a sentence

  1. 她总是很自卑。

    Tā zǒngshì hěn zìbēi.

    She always has such low self-esteem.

    Sentence #9990195 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 你虽然考试不及格,但也不必自卑。

    Nǐ suīrán kǎoshì bù jígé, dàn yě búbì zìbēi.

    Even though you failed the exam, there’s no need to feel inferior.

    Sentence #371160 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  3. 我有什么办法可以脱离我的自卑情结吗?

    Wǒ yǒu shénme bànfǎ kěyǐ tuōlí wǒ de zìbēi qíngjié ma?

    Is there any way I can get rid of my inferiority complex?

    Sentence #10472676 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 自卑 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 自 (zì) drawn as one shape
自zìself; oneself

自 is a single shape of 6 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidDrawn from a nose. The usual explanation is that people point to their nose to mean “me”, so it came to mean “self”.

The character 卑 (bēi) drawn as one shape
卑bēilow

卑 is a single shape of 8 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

How to write 自卑

自 6 strokes · 卑 8 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

自卑 (zìbēi) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 自卑 (zìbēi). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 自卑

Words with 自

Words with 卑

More words: Emotions & Attitudes

FAQs

自卑 (zìbēi) means “to feel inferior” or “low self-esteem”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it zìbēi: zì with a 4th tone, then bēi with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 自卑 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type zibei with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 自卑 from the suggestions. Typing zibei into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
自卑 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.