庇

bì
verb #15,187

Meanings

  1. 1 to protect; to shelter
  2. 2 to cover; to harbor

Examples

HSK 6
Dàshù bìhù zhe xiǎo dòngwù.
The big tree shelters the small animals.
HSK 7-9
Bùnéng bāobì fànzuì fènzǐ.
One must not harbor criminals.

Tips

usage
庇 rarely appears alone in modern Chinese. Common compounds: 庇护 (to shelter/protect), 包庇 (to shield/harbor someone from justice), 庇荫 (to shade/protect).

Components

radical
广 yǎn
shelter; lean-to roof
Top-left shelter radical - a roof sloping down on one side, picturing a lean-to built against a hill or wall. It indexes 庇 in the building-shelter family: 庭 courtyard, 店 shop, 库 storehouse, 序 hall. To 庇 someone is literally to put a roof over them, so the radical does the heavy semantic lifting here.
phonetic
比 bǐ
to compare; side by side
Bottom 比 supplies the sound bǐ to bì with the regular tone shift. 比 itself pictures two people standing side by side. Same phonetic powers 批 critique, 毕 finish, 屁 wind. Faintly semantic too: two figures sheltered together under one roof is exactly what 庇护 (giving protection) depicts.

Stroke Order

庇 bì