pín
verb #66,572

Meanings

  1. 1 to knit the brows; to frown
  2. 2 to scowl

Examples

HSK 3
Tā yì pín yí xiào, dōu dòngrén.
She gave a single frown and a single smile, both captivating.
HSK 7-9
Dōngshī-xiàopín, zhìjīn bèi rén cháoxiào.
Dong Shi imitating Xi Shi's frown is laughed at to this day.

Tips

culture
Famous from the idiom 东施效颦 ('Dong Shi imitates the frown'): the ugly Dong Shi copied the beauty Xi Shi's pained brow and only looked worse. is literary; everyday Chinese uses 皱眉.

Components

phonetic
pín
frequently; brink
The bulk of the character is , which both supplies the sound pín and hints at the meaning, originally pictured someone at a riverbank knitting their brow in worry.
semantic
bēi
low; humble
Bottom-right is added as a further sound-and-sense element; together the parts depict a brow drawn down in distress. The character is built on (head/face), tying the act of frowning to the face.

Filed under radical (shí, #24) by convention. is not a separate component in , so no strokes are highlighted.

Stroke Order

pín