pín
component #16,756

Meanings

  1. 1 poor
  2. 2 inadequate
  3. 3 garrulous

Examples

Pínqióng
poor; impoverished
Pínkùn
poverty-stricken

Tips

usage
to divide + money — when money is divided too much, poverty results

Components

radical
bèi
cowrie shell; money
Bottom shell radical, depicting a cowrie shell — the earliest Chinese currency. Anchors in the money family alongside (wealth), (goods), (loan), (expensive). With above (splitting), the picture is of money divided thin and apart: poverty as wealth-scattered.
phonetic
fēn
to divide; split (here phonetic + semantic)
Top supplies the sound — fēn drifting to pín through the regular f/p alternation in old readings. It also adds semantic flavour: means 'to split, to share out.' Stacked over money below, reads as 'money divided up' — wealth scattered into small portions, the picture of poverty.

Stroke Order

pín