笔 bǐ pen; brush
Made up of [⺮ zhú bamboo radical 118, 毛 máo hair; fur; coin denomination radical 82]A measure word to use for this noun: 支 zhī
Alternative traditional form of character: 筆
Made with 10 strokes.
A combination of bamboo and hair to represent the traditional hair brush with a bamboo shaft. The traditional form had a 'hand' instead of 'hair' holding the brush.
Related characters
Also uses ⺮ zhú component: 第 dì (ordinal (1st,2nd)) 箭 jiàn (arrow) 筷 kuài (chopsticks) 算 suàn (calculate) 笑 xiào (smile)
Also uses 毛 máo component: 尾 wěi (tail)
Sounds same
比 bǐ 匕 bǐ (spoon)Different tone
贲 bì 必 bì (certainly)Pronunciation
Sound file kindly provided by shtooka.net ➚ under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License
Proverbs
一笔勾销 yī bǐ gōu xiāo Taking tough, decisive action to solve a problem. The story is of a statesman who sacked a whole host of incompetent officials working for him with one stroke of the brush.投笔从戎 tóu bǐ cóng róng A scholar choosing to join the army. To choose a more active life mid career.