痞

pǐ
noun #24,176

Meanings

  1. 1 ruffian
  2. 2 scoundrel
  3. 3 hooligan
  4. 4 lump in the abdomen (medical)

Examples

HSK 5
Zhège pǐzi gēnběn bù jiǎng dàolǐ.
This scoundrel is completely unreasonable.
HSK 7-9
Tā shì gè dìpǐ, zài jiēshàng rěshìshēngfēi.
He is a local ruffian who causes trouble on the street.

Tips

usage
痞 is often used in compounds: 地痞 (local thug), 痞子 (ruffian, scoundrel), 流氓痞子 (hooligan). The character originally referred to a medical condition (abdominal mass), but the colloquial meaning of ruffian is now dominant in everyday use.

Components

radical
疒 nè
sickness; ailment
疒 pictures a person leaning against a sickbed. As radical it marks 痞 with its older medical sense - a hard lump or obstruction in the abdomen - before the slang sense of ruffian took over. Same radical in 病, 疼, 疯, 症.
phonetic
否 fǒu
not; negate
否 fǒu/pǐ supplies the sound - 否 has a second reading pǐ meaning blocked or stuck, which 痞 picks up directly. Shared phonetic across 痞 and 否(pǐ) gives a tidy memory hook: blocked breath becomes blocked gut.

Stroke Order

痞 pǐ