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俳

pái
noun #17,805

Meanings

  1. 1 actor; jester (classical)
  2. 2 variety act; comic performance
  3. 3 not serious (classical)

Examples

俳句是日本传统的短诗形式。
Páijù shì Rìběn chuántǒng de duǎn shī xíngshì.
Haiku is a traditional Japanese short poem form.
古代的俳优以表演杂戏为生。
Gǔdài de pái yōu yǐ biǎoyǎn zá xì wéishēng.
Ancient jesters made a living performing variety acts.

Tips

culture
俳句 (haiku) comes from Japanese, but the character 俳 is originally Chinese, meaning "actor" or "jester." 俳优 referred to court entertainers in ancient China.

Components

radical
亻 rén
person (left-side form)
Person radical on the left marks 俳 as something human — a performer, an actor, a comic. Same radical anchors 你, 他, 信, all centring on people and their roles.
phonetic
非 fēi
not; wrong
Right side supplies the sound: fēi → pái (a clean rhyme shift). 非 originally pictured a pair of wings facing away from each other, and that 'paired, mirroring' shape carries over into 俳's sense of comic actors playing off each other in dialogue routines.

Stroke Order

俳 pái