HSK 5 · Verbs

背 bēi “to carry on one’s back” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 背 means

  1. to carry on one’s back
  2. (fig.) to bear
  3. to shoulder (a burden, blame etc)

How to say 背

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale背bēi1st tone, high and level

背 in a sentence

  1. 他背着一个大书包去上学。

    Tā bēi zhe yí ge dà shūbāo qù shàngxué.

    He goes to school carrying a big schoolbag on his back.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 爸爸背着孩子爬山。

    Bàba bēi zhe háizi páshān.

    Dad climbed the mountain carrying his child on his back.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 背 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 背 (bèi) with each of its parts in a different colour
背bēito carry on one’s back
  • 北north · běiSound part
  • ⺼meat form of 肉 · ròuMeaning part

⺼ hints at the meaning (meat); 北 (běi) hints at the sound. Compare it with bēi.

How to write 背

背 9 strokes

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

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

Words related to 背

Words with 背

后背hòubèi · back (of the body)背景bèijǐng · background背叛bèipàn · to betray背诵bèisòng · to recite (from memory)违背wéibèi · to go against

More words: Common Verbs

包裹bāoguǒ · parcel包含bāohán · to contain保持bǎochí · to keep保存bǎocún · to conserve避免bìmiǎn · to avoid表明biǎomíng · to make clear表现biǎoxiàn · to show补充bǔchōng · to replenish

FAQs

背 (bēi) means “to carry on one’s back” or “(fig.) to bear”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it bēi: bēi with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 背 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type bei with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 背 from the suggestions. Typing bei into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
背 is an HSK 5 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 written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.