毖 (bì): to be cautious; to take care (l…

Meanings

1 to be cautious; to take care (literary)
2 to caution; to admonish
3 (of spring water) to gush forth (archaic)

Characters

毖

bì

cautious; admonish

Examples

惩前毖后，治病救人。

Chéng qián bì hòu, zhì bìng jiù rén.

Learning from past mistakes, we take precautions for the future.

他毖其子女戒奢。

Tā bì qí zǐnǚ jiè shē.

He warned his children to guard against extravagance.

泉水毖涌不息。

Quánshuǐ bì yǒng bù xī.

Spring water gushes endlessly from the rocks.

Tips

history

Survives in one set phrase: 惩前毖后 ('punish past errors to take precautions for the future'). The source is 《诗经·周颂·小毖》: 予其惩而毖后患 — the young king Cheng's vow to learn from the rebellion of the Three Guards. Mao Zedong revived the four-character form in 1942 as a Party formula for handling internal errors.

register

Almost exclusively literary or political-formal. Outside 惩前毖后 (which is alive in editorials and policy speeches) it's a classical-text-only character. The 'gushing spring' meaning is archaic.

Components

radical

比 bǐ

compare; alongside

Bottom 比 (Kangxi #81, side-by-side / compare). Indexes 毖 in the radical-browse list. The 'two people side by side' image fits the admonish-and-be-admonished pairing.

phonetic

必 bì

must; certainly

Top 必 supplies the sound (bì, exact match) and a hint of the 'compulsion / firmness' sense — to take precaution = something one MUST do. Same phonetic in 秘, 泌, 苾.