卞 (biàn) · (surname) Bian

Meanings

1 (surname) Bian
2 law; statute (archaic)
3 hurried; impetuous (archaic)

Characters

卞

biàn

surname Bian; (archaic) law

Examples

HSK 7-9

卞先生出身于一个老家族。

Biàn xiānsheng chūshēn yú yī gè lǎo jiāzú.

Mr. Bian comes from an old family.

HSK 7-9

卞和献玉的故事千古闻名。

Biàn Hé xiàn yù de gùshi qiāngǔ wénmíng.

The story of Bian He presenting the jade is famous throughout history.

Tips

culture

Today 卞 is met almost only as a surname. Its most famous bearer is 卞和, the man who, by legend, found a raw jade and was crippled twice for it before a king finally recognized its worth - the source of the treasure called 和氏璧 (He's jade disc). The old common-noun senses 'law' and 'impatient' are no longer used.

Components

radical

卜 bǔ

divination

The indexing radical, the divination glyph 卜 (a vertical with a side stroke, picturing a crack on a heated oracle bone). 卞 is filed in radical browsing under 卜 even though the modern character carries no divination sense.

ideograph

亠 tóu

lid; top stroke

The 'lid' top, an abstract two-stroke cap (a dot over a short horizontal). It carries no meaning of its own here; it simply sits above the 卜 body, the way it caps characters such as 六 and 市.