Definitions
(noun)
generation
(noun)
group; class of people
(noun)
lifetime
About
The character 辈, whose traditional form is 輩, is structurally composed of 非 placed above 车, a configuration that provides insight into its early semantic field. The component 非, which can represent the idea of a pair of opposed or parallel wings, combined with 车, meaning vehicle or chariot, suggests its original use in a military context to denote rows or ranks of chariots. From this concrete sense of ordered units within an army, its meaning broadened to signify a collective group of people sharing a common classification. This abstracted further to its primary modern usage, referring to a generation within a family or a cohort of individuals belonging to the same class or lifetime, thereby carrying a sense of hierarchical order and collective identity derived from its earlier martial connotations.
Etymology Hide
Example Sentences Hide
我一辈子都住在这里。
前辈的经验很宝贵。
我们家的辈分很清晰。
我和他是同辈人。
晚辈应该尊敬长辈。
这个时代人才辈出。
祖辈的传统不能忘记。
在家族中，他的辈分极高，许多同辈人都对他十分尊敬。