彬 (bīn): urbane

Meanings

1 urbane
2 well-bred
3 cultivated
4 refined

Characters

彬

bīn

urbane; refined; cultivated

Examples

HSK 5

他彬彬有礼，给每个人留下了好印象。

Tā bīnbīn-yǒulǐ, gěi měi gè rén liúxià le hǎo yìnxiàng.

He was so polite and refined that he made a good impression on everyone.

HSK 7-9

彬是个常用于男孩名字的字，寓意文雅。

Bīn shì gè cháng yòngyú nánhái míngzi de zì, yùyì wényǎ.

It is a character commonly used in boys' names, implying refinement.

Tips

memory

彬彬有礼 - polite and well-mannered - is the key idiom. 彬彬 is a reduplicated form meaning 'refined and elegant'. The character 彬 contains two 木 (tree) elements and 彡, suggesting graceful growth.

Components

radical

彡 shān

streaks; flowing pattern

Right streaks radical - three diagonal lines depicting hair, light, sound waves, or patterned flow. It indexes 彬 in the visible-pattern family: 形 shape, 影 shadow, 彩 color, 彰 manifest. Paired with 林, the picture is a grove whose foliage catches the light in elegant streaks - the refined cultivation 彬 carries.

semantic

林 lín

forest; grove

Left side is 林 - two trees side by side, picture of a small grove. It contributes meaning rather than sound: the multiplicity image (many trees, many strokes patterning the eye) feeds 彬's sense of well-balanced harmonious richness - the orderly cultivation behind 文质彬彬.