鼙 (pí) · small saddle drum used by ancient cavalry

Meanings

1 small saddle drum used by ancient cavalry

Characters

鼙

pí

cavalry saddle-drum

Examples

HSK 7-9

渔阳鼙鼓动地来，惊破《霓裳羽衣曲》。

Yúyáng pígǔ dòng dì lái, jīng pò 《 Níshang Yǔyī Qǔ 》.

The war drums from Yuyang came rolling like an earthquake, shattering the Rainbow-and-Feather Song.

Tips

register

pí is archaic. The 鼙 was a small drum carried on horseback by cavalrymen - the gallop-rhythm signalling instrument of pre-modern Chinese armies. The standard classical compound is 鼙鼓 (saddle-drums, by metonym 'the sound of war / approaching invasion'). The character is essentially never used outside classical citation.

history

The example sentence is the famous opening of Bai Juyi's 《长恨歌》 (Song of Everlasting Sorrow, 806 CE), describing the moment the An Lushan rebellion broke into the Tang capital. 渔阳 (Yuyang, near modern Beijing) was An Lushan's rebel base; the 鼙鼓 'cavalry drums' shaking the earth = the moment the rebellion reached Chang'an and shattered the imperial court's pleasures.

Components

radical

鼓 gǔ

drum

Bottom drum radical (Kangxi #207). The semantic anchor - 鼙 is a specific type of drum, the small horseback drum carried by cavalry. The radical files it alongside 鼗 (pellet drum) in the historical-instrument family.

phonetic

卑 bēi

low; humble; supplying the sound

Top phonetic 卑 - supplies the sound (bēi → pí, a regular shift in the same phonetic series). The same phonetic anchors 碑 (stone stele), 婢 (maidservant), 脾 (spleen), 稗 (barnyard grass).