noun

Meanings

  1. 1 (archaic) an ancient state and place name; Pizhou, in Jiangsu
  2. 2 (archaic) a surname

Examples

Pīzhōu shì Jiāngsū běibù de yízuò chéngshì, yǐ gǔlǎo de liǔshù lín wénmíng.
Pizhou is a city in northern Jiangsu, well known for its old willow groves.

Tips

history
Not used as a free word in modern Chinese. It survives almost entirely in the place name 邳州 in Jiangsu and as a rare surname; in classical texts it also borrowed for meaning 'great'.

Components

radical
city; settlement
The right-side city radical is the standing form of (city), marking this as a place name — here an ancient state and the modern Pizhou.
phonetic
great
The left side gives the sound pī; the two characters were also interchangeable for 'great' in old texts.

Stroke Order