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

HSK 2

请闭上眼睛。

Qǐng bì shàng yǎnjīng.

Please close your eyes.

HSK 3

别闭门造车。

Bié bìmén-zàochē.

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

HSK 5

闭幕式很精彩。

Bìmùshì hěn jīngcǎi.

The closing ceremony was wonderful.

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.