贿 (huì): (bound form) bribe; bribery

Meanings

1 (bound form) bribe; bribery
2 (literary) wealth; goods

Characters

贿

huì

bribe; goods

Examples

他因受贿被捕了。

Tā yīn shòuhuì bèibǔ le.

He was arrested for taking bribes.

行贿是违法的。

Xínghuì shì wéifǎ de.

Offering bribes is illegal.

Tips

memory

Radical 贝 (cowrie shell, the ancient currency) signals a money-related meaning — same family as 财 (wealth), 贵 (expensive), 贪 (greed). 贿 itself is bound: you'll see it in 行贿 (offer a bribe), 受贿 (accept a bribe), 贿赂 (bribe, full word), 索贿 (demand a bribe).

Components

radical

贝 bèi

shell; money (early currency)

Shell/money radical on the left — the indexing radical, the simplified pictograph of a cowrie shell, the earliest Chinese currency. Anything financial wears this radical: 财 (wealth), 货 (goods), 贵 (expensive), 赌 (gamble), 赏 (reward). Here it nails the meaning: 贿 is money changing hands.

phonetic

有 yǒu

to have (here phonetic)

Right side 有 supplies the sound (yǒu → huì by an old velar-to-fricative drift, audible in the related 贿/会 pair). 有 means 'to have/possess,' which delivers a tidy semantic bonus: a bribe is wealth one person gives to make another 'have' something. Same phonetic feeds 侑 (urge to eat).