Péi
noun #23,581

Meanings

  1. 1 Pei (Chinese surname)
  2. 2 (of a garment) long and flowing

Examples

HSK 7-9
Péi xiānsheng shì gōngsī de chuàngshǐrén.
Mr. Pei is the founder of the company.
HSK 7-9
Zhùmíng jiànzhùshī Bèi Yùmíng de xìng yǒushí yě pīnxiě wéi Péi.
The surname of the famous architect I.M. Pei is sometimes also romanized as Pei.

Tips

usage
is a relatively uncommon Chinese surname. Its literary secondary meaning (of a garment: long and flowing) appears in classical texts but almost never in modern usage.

Components

radical
clothing
Clothing radical at the bottom, the indexing radical. originally named a long flowing robe, then became a surname carried by many notable historical figures - Tang-era chancellors, generals, scholars. The clothing radical anchors the original sense; today the char is almost exclusively a surname read Péi.
phonetic
fēi
not; wrong
Top supplies the sound - fēi drifting to péi through a regular f/p alternation in old Chinese, the same shift that gives fù versus bà. Same phonetic appears in to arrange, to pace, coffee, sorrow - a wide fei/pei family.

Stroke Order

Péi