品 (pǐn): product; article; goods

Meanings

1 product; article; goods
2 grade; rank; quality
3 character; moral quality

Characters

品

pǐn

product; article; to taste

Examples

这个产品质量很好。

Zhège chǎnpǐn zhìliàng hěn hǎo.

This product is very good quality.

请品尝一下。

Qǐng pǐncháng yīxià.

Please have a taste.

他的人品很好。

Tā de rénpǐn hěn hǎo.

He has good character.

Tips

usage

品 is very productive: 产品 (product), 食品 (food product), 品牌 (brand), 商品 (commodity), 作品 (work of art), 品质 (quality), 品尝 (to taste), 人品 (character). The three 口 (mouths) stacked suggest 'tasting' or 'evaluating.'

Components

radical

口 kǒu

mouth

Top indexing mouth radical — positioned as the apex of the three-mouth pyramid. Three mouths together is the classic Chinese way of representing a crowd or group: a tasting panel, an evaluating committee. The top 口 leads the stack visually and supplies the indexing for the whole character.

semantic

口 kǒu

mouth

Bottom-left 口 — second of three mouths. Stacking 口 three times is the classic Chinese 'crowd' device: cf. 众 (three persons = many), 森 (three trees = dense forest), 晶 (three suns = crystal sparkle). Three mouths = a panel of tasters jointly assessing quality.

semantic

口 kǒu

mouth

Bottom-right 口 — third mouth completing the pyramid. The triple-mouth stack is one of the most aesthetically balanced compounds in the script. Visually: three mouths gathered = a tasting panel, a quality assessment. Hence 品: to taste, to evaluate, to grade, and from grading came 'goods, quality, character' (产品 product, 品质 quality, 人品 character).