呸

pēi
interjection #11,820

Meanings

  1. 1 pah!
  2. 2 bah!
  3. 3 pooh!

Examples

HSK 7-9
Pēi! Nǐ shuō de dōu shì jiǎhuà!
Bah! Everything you said is a lie!
HSK 7-9
Pēi, shéi xīhan nǐ de dōngxi.
Pah, who wants your stuff.

Tips

usage
呸 expresses contempt, disgust, or dismissal. It mimics the sound of spitting in disgust.
register
Informal and rude. Used to show strong disapproval or contempt.

Components

radical
口 kǒu
mouth
口 (the mouth radical) marks 呸 as an oral expression - specifically the sharp expulsion of breath used to express disgust or contempt, the spit-sound of bah! and pooh! Same family as 啊, 喂, 哎 and other emotive interjections.
phonetic
丕 pī
great (literary)
丕 pī provides the sound, lightly shifted to pēi. The phonetic stem here is purely for sound - there is no semantic contribution from the literary meaning. Same phonetic feeds 邳 (Pī, place name) and a handful of other rare characters.

Stroke Order

呸 pēi