笔 (bǐ): pen; writing brush

Measure Word

一支笔 zhī

Meanings

1 pen; writing brush
2 stroke (in writing characters)

Characters

笔

bǐ

pen; writing instrument

Bamboo radical ⺮ + 毛 (hair/fur) — a bamboo brush with animal hair, the original Chinese writing tool

Examples

你有笔吗？

Nǐ yǒu bǐ ma?

Do you have a pen?

这个字有几笔？

Zhège zì yǒu jǐ bǐ?

How many strokes does this character have?

请用笔写。

Qǐng yòng bǐ xiě.

Please write with a pen.

Tips

culture

The Chinese writing brush (毛笔) is one of the Four Treasures of the Study. Calligraphy (书法) is considered a high art form and is still practiced widely today.

usage

笔 combines with specific types: 铅笔 (pencil), 钢笔 (fountain pen), 毛笔 (brush pen), 圆珠笔 (ballpoint pen). As a measure word for money: 一笔钱 (a sum of money).

Components

radical

⺮ zhú

bamboo (radical form)

Top bamboo radical (the compressed form of 竹 used as a header). Marks 笔 as a writing-instrument character: ancient brushes had bamboo shafts. Same radical anchors 筷 (chopsticks), 算 (calculate), 答 (answer), 篮 (basket) — all bamboo objects.

semantic

毛 máo

hair; fur

Bottom 毛 — fur or hair. Together with bamboo above, the whole graph reads 'bamboo + hair' = a brush: bamboo shaft with animal-hair tip. The simplified 笔 replaced traditional 筆 (which had 聿, a hand holding a brush) with this transparent ideographic compound.