HSK 6 · Verbs

憋 biē “to hold in (breath” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 憋 means

  1. to hold in (breath, urine)
  2. to suppress
  3. to feel stifled
  4. to choke
  5. to stifle
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • to restrain
  • to hold back
  • to hold in (urine)
  • to hold (one’s breath)

How to say 憋

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale憋biē1st tone, high and level

憋 in a sentence

  1. 我憋了一口气，游到了对面。

    Wǒ biē le yì kǒu qì, yóu dào le duìmiàn.

    I held my breath and swam to the other side.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 有什么话就说出来，别憋在心里。

    Yǒu shénme huà jiù shuō chūlai, bié biē zài xīnli.

    If something’s on your mind, say it; don’t bottle it up.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 憋 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 憋 (biē) with each of its parts in a different colour
憋biēto choke
  • 敝to break · bìSound part
  • 心heart · xīnMeaning part

心 hints at the meaning (heart); 敝 (bì) hints at the sound. Compare it with biē.

How to write 憋

憋 15 strokes

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

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

Words related to 憋

More words: Common Verbs

崩溃bēngkuì · to collapse遍布biànbù · to be found everywhere变质biànzhì · to go bad编织biānzhī · to knit并列bìngliè · to stand side by side濒临bīnlín · to be on the verge of逼迫bīpò · to force拨bō · to dial

FAQs

憋 (biē) means “to hold in (breath, urine)” or “to suppress”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it biē: biē with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 憋 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type bie with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 憋 from the suggestions. Typing bie into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
憋 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 written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.