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霹

pī
noun #55,777

Meanings

  1. 1 a sudden, violent clap of thunder (used in 霹雳)

Examples

一个霹雳把老树劈成两半。
Yí gè pīlì bǎ lǎoshù pīchéng liǎngbàn.
A thunderbolt split the old tree in two.
这个消息对她如同晴天霹雳。
Zhè gè xiāoxi duì tā rútóng qíngtiānpīlì.
The news hit her like a bolt from the blue.

Tips

memory
Bound to 霹雳 (a violent thunderclap). The vivid idiom 晴天霹雳 — 'a thunderbolt from a clear sky' — means shocking, unexpected bad news. The rain radical 雨 sits on top.

Components

radical
雨 yǔ
rain
Top rain radical 雨. Weather words — thunder, lightning, frost, clouds — carry 雨, marking 霹 as a thunderstorm phenomenon.
phonetic
辟 pì
to open up; monarch
Below the rain top, 辟 supplies the sound (pì shifting to pī). The same phonetic gives 劈 (to split) — fitting, since a thunderbolt splits things apart.

Stroke Order

霹 pī