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碧

bì
adjective #7,091

Meanings

  1. 1 jade green
  2. 2 bluish green
  3. 3 emerald

Examples

HSK 5
碧蓝的天空很美。
Bì lán de tiānkōng hěn měi.
The azure sky is beautiful.
HSK 5
湖水碧绿碧绿的。
Húshuǐ bìlǜ bìlǜ de.
The lake water is a vivid emerald green.

Tips

memory
The character combines 王 (jade) at the bottom with 珀 components at the top, connecting to the color of jade stone.
usage
碧 is literary and appears in compounds like 碧绿 (emerald green), 碧蓝 (azure blue), 碧玉 (jasper). Rarely used alone in everyday speech.

Components

radical
石 shí
stone
Stone radical at the bottom is the indexing component, putting 碧 in the family of mineral characters: 砂 sand, 砖 brick, 碎 to shatter. A stone with jade-and-white markings on top names a specific gemstone color - the deep blue-green of polished jadeite, which is the literary heart of every 碧 compound.
semantic
王 wáng
jade (here, not 'king')
Top-left is the jade radical - visually identical to 王 king but historically 玉 jade with the dot tucked away. As an embedded component it always means jade or precious stone. Here it pairs with 白 to evoke the pale-jade green color that 碧 names: 碧绿 emerald, 碧玉 jasper, 碧波 jade-green waves.
phonetic
白 bái
white; pale (here phonetic)
Top-right is 白 white, doubling as the phonetic - bái shifting to bì in this character (regular b-series shift). White also lends a faint sheen of pale luster, which combined with jade above gives the precise visual: pale, jade-green, gleaming. The same 白 is phonetic in 帛 silk and 拍 to clap.

Stroke Order

碧 bì