pín
verb #66,572

Meanings

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

Examples

Tā yì pín yí xiào, dōu dòngrén.
She gave a single frown and a single smile, both captivating.
Dōng Shī xiào pín, 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