禀 (bǐng) · to report (to a superior), to make a petition

Meanings

1 to report (to a superior)
2 to make a petition
3 to receive (a natural gift)

Characters

禀

bǐng

to report / to receive / natural endowment

Examples

HSK 6

他向长官禀明了事情的经过。

Tā xiàng zhǎngguān bǐngmíng le shìqing de jīngguò.

He reported the course of events to the superior.

HSK 7-9

小厮禀告主人，说门外有客来访。

Xiǎo sī bǐnggào zhǔrén, shuō ménwài yǒu kè láifǎng.

The servant reported to the master that a guest had arrived at the door.

Tips

register

禀 is a classical/formal word rarely used in modern spoken Chinese. It appears frequently in historical dramas (古装剧) and classical texts. In modern contexts, 报告 or 汇报 are used instead.

Components

radical

示 shì

to show; altar (radical)

Bottom 示 - pictograph of an altar with offerings hanging from it. As the indexing radical it carries the ritual sense: 禀 originally meant receiving a divine or imperial mandate, presenting petitions to a higher authority. Same radical drives 神 god, 祖 ancestor, 礼 rite, 福 blessing.

ideograph

亠 tóu

lid stroke

Top lid stroke - a horizontal with a small dot on top, an abstract roof marker. In 禀 it caps the storehouse silhouette below, suggesting a peaked granary roof that holds the grain stored within. Pure positional indicator, not a real-world drawing on its own.

semantic

回 huí

to return; here a granary

Middle 回 - two nested squares. Here it pictures a granary or storehouse, the original sense of the upper portion of 禀: grain held in a circular silo. Receiving grain from the granary became a metaphor for receiving instructions from a superior, hence 'to report.'