About
The Chinese character 貔 is a phono-semantic compound. Its left radical, 豸, classifies it as a beast or mythological creature, while the right component, 毗, provides its phonetic value. It is most commonly seen in the compound 貔貅, the name of a fierce mythical beast thought to repel evil and attract wealth. In ancient texts, 貔 could refer to a fierce animal, possibly a leopard or bear, and by extension, came to describe brave troops in a military context. This structure, a beast classifier paired with a phonetic element, identifies the character in both legendary and martial writings, and it has no separate simplified form.
Etymology Hide
