闭 (bì): to close; to shut

Meanings

1 to close; to shut
2 to obstruct; to block

Characters

闭

bì

to close; to shut

门 (door) with 才 inside — talent locked behind a door, shut in.

Examples

请闭上眼睛。

Qǐng bì shàng yǎnjīng.

Please close your eyes.

他闭着嘴不说话。

Tā bì zhe zuǐ bùshuō huà.

He kept his mouth shut and didn't speak.

闭幕式很精彩。

Bìmùshì hěn jīngcǎi.

The closing ceremony was wonderful.

别闭门造车。

Bié bìménzàochē.

Don't work behind closed doors (without considering reality).

Tips

usage

闭 is more literary than 关. In daily speech, use 关门 (close the door), but in set phrases: 闭嘴 (shut up), 闭幕 (closing ceremony), 闭眼 (close eyes).

memory

The character has 门 (door) on the outside and 才 inside — talent locked behind a door, shut in.

Components

radical

门 mén

door; gate

Outer radical 门 (door) frames the action: closing or shutting up the gate. Same enclosing radical groups 闭 with the door-family — 问 (ask at the gate), 间 (between gates), 闷 (stifled inside a closed door), 开 (open). 门 wraps the inside element to picture what happens at the threshold.

semantic

才 cái

talent; just

Inner 才 in this position is the silhouette of a wooden cross-bar wedged into the door — 闭 is a compound ideograph where the inside element is not really 'talent' but the original drawing of a door-bolt. Modern 才 has the same shape, hence the convergence. Together with 门 outside, 才 inside reads as 'gate barred' = closed, shut, blocked.