Useful extra · HSK 2 list

笔 bǐ “pen” in Chinese

Traditional 筆

What 笔 means

  1. pen, brush
  2. writing brush
  3. writing implement (pen, pencil etc)
  4. brushstroke
  5. stroke (in painting or calligraphy)
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • (bound form) style of writing
  • literary manner
  • technique of brushwork
  • (classifier) stroke of a Chinese character
  • (classifier) sum of money
  • financial transaction

How to say 笔

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale笔bǐ3rd tone, dipping

笔 in a sentence

  1. 新买的笔很好用。

    Xīn mǎi de bǐ hěn hǎo yòng.

    The new pen I bought writes really well.

    Sentence #9991890 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我只有几支笔。

    Wǒ zhǐ yǒu jǐ zhī bǐ.

    I only have a few pens.

    Sentence #9507003 from Tatoeba

  3. 你有很多笔吗？

    Nǐ yǒu hěn duō bǐ ma?

    Do you have a lot of pens?

    Sentence #5091444 from Tatoeba

How 笔 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 笔 (bǐ) with each of its parts in a different colour
笔bǐwriting brush; writing implement
  • ⺮bamboo form of 竹 · zhú
  • 毛fur · máo

Memory aidBamboo ⺮ with hair 毛: a brush, a pen.

How to write 笔

笔 10 strokes

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

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

Words related to 笔

Words with 笔

铅笔qiānbǐ · pencil笔记bǐjì · notes笔记本bǐjìběn · notebook

More words: Useful Extras

你们nǐmen · you (plural)他们tāmen · they你好nǐ hǎo · hello左zuǒ · left右yòu · right病bìng · illness见jiàn · to see歌gē · song

FAQs

笔 (bǐ) means “pen, brush” or “writing brush”. It is not on the official HSK lists, but we teach it with HSK 2 because learners need it early.
Say it bǐ: bǐ with a 3rd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 笔 is written 筆. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type bi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 笔 from the suggestions. Typing bi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
笔 is not on the official HSK 2.0 word lists. It is a useful extra on our HSK 2 list, because learners need it from the start.

Turn words into conversations

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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.