彼

bǐ

彳 + 皮

Definitions

bǐ (pronoun) that; those

bǐ (adjective) another

Etymology

Phonosemantic compound. 彳 represents the meaning and 皮 represents the sound.

Semantic: 彳 Phonetic: 皮

About

彼 is a phonosemantic compound: 彳 (the walking radical) gives the meaning, and 皮 provides the sound. It originally referred to moving toward a particular place, but shifted from a verb of physical motion into a demonstrative pronoun, coming to mean "that" or "the other" as the direct antonym of 此 ("this" or "here"). In modern usage, it almost always indicates distance or the opposing side in a contrastive pair.

Etymology Hide

Bronze Late Spring and Autumn (~500 BC)

Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical Qin dynasty (221-206 BC)

Clerical Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Clerical Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Traditional Modern

Simplified Modern

Example Sentences Hide

我知道彼处很好。

Wǒ zhīdào bǐ chù hěn hǎo.

I know that place is very good.

彼岸的花很美丽。

Bǐ'àn de huā hěn měilì.

The flowers on the other shore are very beautiful.

他们彼此了解很深。

Tāmen bǐcǐ liǎojiě hěn shēn.

They understand each other very deeply.

彼时我们还在上学。

Bǐ shí wǒmen hái zài shàngxué.

At that time, we were still in school.

他经常提到彼处的生活。

Tā jīngcháng tí dào bǐ chù de shēnghuó.

He often mentions the life at that place.

我们必须彼此信任才能成功。

Wǒmen bìxū bǐcǐ xìnrèn cáinéng chénggōng.

We must trust each other to succeed.

他的梦想是到达理想的彼岸。

Tā de mèngxiǎng shì dàodá lǐxiǎng de bǐ'àn.

His dream is to reach the ideal other shore.

在彼方的那座城市里，有我们共同的回忆。

Zài bǐ fāng de nà zuò chéngshì lǐ, yǒu wǒmen gòngtóng de huíyì.

In that city far away, there are our shared memories.

Related Characters

Component: 彳

Component: 皮

彼