(bèi): generation

(bèi) is a Chinese character meaning “generation.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (phonetic) and (semantic). It ranks #1468 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, wheel. Its radical form (cart) appears in many related characters such as (chē, vehicle), (qīng, light), (liàng, measure word for vehicles).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. generation

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticwheel

Decomposition: ⿱非车 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

Practice writing with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
nounyī bèi zi(for) a lifetime6
nounzhǎng bèione's elders6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
bèi ziall one's life
bàn bèi zihalf of a lifetime
qián bèisenior
xià bèi zithe next life
xiān bèian older generation
fù bèipeople of one's parents' generation
shǔ bèia scoundrel
shàng bèi zione's ancestors
zǔ bèiancestors
hòu bèiyounger generation
lǎo yī bèiolder generation
xiǎo bèithe younger generation
wú míng zhī bèiunknown person
děng xián zhī bèi(in the negative) (not) to be trifled with
tóng bèiof the same generation
37
Total compounds
11
As first character
68
As last character
22
As middle character

appears in 37 compound words: 11 as the first character, 68 as the last, and 22 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

sūn
0.4692,304 co-occurrences
0.4242,958 co-occurrences
zhí
0.386264 co-occurrences
0.3862,706 co-occurrences
qián
0.3826,750 co-occurrences
lǎo
0.3782,064 co-occurrences
0.37372 co-occurrences
cháng
0.3633,420 co-occurrences
wǎn
0.3571,062 co-occurrences
xiān
0.3552,016 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (4)

děngxiánzhībèiHSK 6+

ordinary folk; lightweight; nobody

phrase
píng yōng zhī bèiHSK 7+

a nobody; a nonentity

phrase
wúmíngzhībèiHSK 6+

unknown person; nobody

phrase
zǔzǔbèibèiHSK 6+

generations and generations (in the past)

noun

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

我们是同人,有很多共同话题。

Wǒmen shì tóngbèi rén, yǒu hěn duō gòngtóng huàtí.

We are of the same generation and have many common topics.

三立新聞網Mar 2026

“真的不要闹耶!”长喊捏婴鼻子才会挺

zhēn de bù yāo nào 耶 ! cháng bèi hǎn niē yīng bí zǐ cái huì tǐng

“Seriously, stop messing around!” The older person shouted, pinching the baby’s nose to make it stick up.

NewsFeb 2026

...女儿揭“5分钟拔管过程” 泪崩曝遗物:一子留着

. . . nǚ ér jiē fēn zhōng bá guǎn guò chéng lèi bēng pù yí wù yī bèi zǐ liú zhe

... The daughter revealed the "5-minute extubation process" and burst into tears to expose the relics: keep them for a lifetime

NewsFeb 2026

...时合照获签名 江坤宇:王贞治是传奇激励后

. . . shí gě zhào huò qiān míng jiāng 坤 yǔ wáng zhēn zhì shì chuán qí jī lì hòu bèi

... The group photo was signed Jiang Kunyu: Wang Zhenzhi is a legend who inspires his younger generations

NewsFeb 2026

健康网》家中长21项警讯 网红医:恐认知障碍前兆

jiàn kāng wǎng jiā zhōng cháng bèi xiàng jǐng xùn wǎng hóng yī kǒng rèn zhī zhàng ài qián zhào

Health Network" 21 warning signs for elders in the family Internet celebrity doctor: fear of precursors to cognitive impairment

NewsFeb 2026

...召卸任 10年幕僚全说了:跟助理吃苦的长

. . . zhào xiè rèn nián mù liáo quán shuō le gēn zhù lǐ chī kǔ de cháng bèi

... The staff who have been in office for 10 years have all said: the elders who suffer with their assistants

Tatoeba

你竟敢这样对长说话?!

Nǐ jìnggǎn zhèyàng duì zhǎngbèi shuōhuà?!

How dare you speak like that to your elders and betters!

Tatoeba

你这子什么时候开心过吗?

Nǐ zhè bèizi shénmeshíhou kāixīn guo ma?

What's the last thing you were ever happy about?

Tatoeba

我一子也不会忘记你的大恩大德。

Wǒ yībèizi yě bù huì wàngjì nǐ de dà ēn dà dé.

I will never forget your kindness as long as I live.

Tatoeba

我一子都是个流浪者。

Wǒ yībèizi dōu shì gè liúlàngzhě.

I'm a nomad for life.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced bèi

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 辈 (bèi) mean in Chinese?
辈 (bèi) primarily means "generation." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1468 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 辈 and 排?
辈 (bèi) and 排 (pái) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 车 vs 扌 (same 非 component).
How many strokes does 辈 have?
辈 is written with 12 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 辈?
The radical associated with 辈 is 车 (cart). This radical appears in many characters related to cart.
What are the components of 辈?
辈 is composed of: 非 (phonetic), 车 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱非车 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 辈?
Common words with 辈 include: 一辈子 (yī bèi zi, "(for) a lifetime"); 辈子 (bèi zi, "all one's life"); 半辈子 (bàn bèi zi, "half of a lifetime"); 前辈 (qián bèi, "senior"); 长辈 (zhǎng bèi, "one's elders"). There are over 37 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 辈 (bèi)?
Several characters share the pronunciation bèi: 悲 (sad), 卑 (low), 杯 (cup, glass), 碑 (monument). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 辈 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 辈 and the traditional form is 輩.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.