比 (bǐ): Belgium, Belgian, abbr. for 比利時|比利时

比 (bǐ) is a Chinese character meaning “belgium.” Classified as HSK Level 2 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 匕 (structural) and 匕 (structural). It ranks #199 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 比 two spoons 匕 side-by-side; 匕 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 比 (compare) appears in many related characters such as 毕 (bì, the whole of), 毙 (bì, to die).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. Belgium
  2. Belgian
  3. abbr. for 比利時|比利时

Etymology & Origin

比

ideographicTwo spoons 匕 side-by-side; 匕 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿰匕匕 (layout: left-right)

Components:匕structural

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 比

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
比赛verb/nounbǐ sàicompetition (sports etc)3
比较verb/preposition/adverbbǐ jiàoto compare3
比如verbbǐ rúfor example3
相比verbxiāng bǐto compare4
比方verbbǐ fanganalogy6
比喻verb/nounbǐ yùto compare5
对比verb/nounduì bǐto contrast5
比分nounbǐ fēnscore (of a game or competition)5
比例nounbǐ lìproportion5
性价比nounxìng jià bǐcost-performance ratio6
占比nounzhàn bǐvariant of 占比6
比重nounbǐ zhòngproportion6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
比尔proper-nounbǐ ěrBill (name)
比如说adverbbǐ rú shuōfor example
比利bǐ lì(HK, Sg, Tw) Pelé (1940–2022), Edson Arantes Do Nascimento, Brazilian football star
无比verbwú bǐincomparable
比特nounbǐ tèbit (binary digit) (loanword)
哥伦比亚proper-noungē lún bǐ yàColombia (country in South America)
好比verbhǎo bǐto be just like
莎士比亚shā shì bǐ yàShakespeare (name)
比萨nounbǐ sà(loanword) pizza
比基尼nounbǐ jī ní(loanword) bikini
比利时bǐ lì shíBelgium
比不上verbbǐ bù shàngcan't compare with
无与伦比phrasewú yǔ lún bǐincomparable
加勒比jiā lè bǐCaribbean
波比bō bǐburpee (loanword)
105
Total compounds
56
As first character
39
As last character
5
As middle character

比 appears in 105 compound words: 56 as the first character, 39 as the last, and 5 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 比 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

赛sài
0.539196,669 co-occurrences
较jiào
0.52749,729 co-occurrences
喻yù
0.4897,618 co-occurrences
伦lún
0.45319,148 co-occurrences
对duì
0.45073,512 co-occurrences
丘qiū
0.44512,666 co-occurrences
哥gē
0.44228,474 co-occurrences
利lì
0.43479,808 co-occurrences
手shǒu
0.42868,042 co-occurrences
相xiāng
0.42774,382 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (28)

氨基比林ān jī bǐ lín

aminopyrine (loanword)

phrase
比比皆是bǐbǐjiēshìHSK 7+

can be found everywhere; many

phrase
比佛利山BǐfólìshānHSK 5+

Beverly Hills (a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States)

比较文学bǐjiào wénxuéHSK 3+

comparative literature

noun
比萨斜塔Bǐsà XiétǎHSK 7+

the Leaning Tower of Pisa

比什凯克BǐshíkǎikèHSK 7+

Bishkek (a city, the capital city of Kyrgyzstan)

比手划脚bǐshǒuhuàjiǎoHSK 4+

alternative form of 比手畫腳 /比手画脚 (bǐshǒuhuàjiǎo)

phrase
比斯开湾BǐsīkāiwānHSK 7+

Bay of Biscay (a gulf)

比翼齐飞bǐyìqífēiHSK 7+

to be together day and night; to help each other and move forward together

phrase
比翼双飞bǐyìshuāngfēiHSK 7+

to be together day and night; to help each other and move forward together

phrase
第比利斯DìbǐlìsīHSK 7+

Tbilisi (a city, the capital city of Georgia)

非比寻常fēi bǐ xún chángHSK 5+

extraordinary

phrase

Showing 12 of 28 idioms containing 比.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

比字在日常生活中使用频率很高。

bǐ zì zài rì cháng shēng huó zhōng shǐ yòng pín lǜ hěn gāo .

The character "比" is used very frequently in daily life.

99 健康网Feb 2026

男生小便完甩一下动作标准吗?向前轻弹比左右晃更有效吗

nán shēng xiǎo biàn wán shuǎi yī xià dòng zuò biāo zhǔn ma ? xiàng qián qīng dàn bǐ zuǒ yòu huǎng gēng yǒu xiào ma

Is it standard for boys to pee and shake off? Is it more effective to flick forward than to swing left and right?

99 健康网Feb 2026

...xxl18和xxxxxl19哪个更值?对比这些方面再做决定

. . . x x l 1 8 hé x x x x x l 1 9 nǎ gè gēng zhí ? duì bǐ zhè xiē fāng miàn zài zuò jué dìng

... Which is more valuable, xxl18 or xxxxxl19? Compare these aspects before making a decision

EttodayFeb 2026

放年假比上班还累?教你简单4招让身心快速归零

fàng nián jiǎ bǐ shàng bān hái lěi ? jiào nǐ jiǎn dān 4 zhāo ràng shēn xīn kuài sù guī líng

Is annual leave more tiring than going to work? Teach you 4 simple tricks to quickly zero your body and mind

工商時報Feb 2026

比特币还能买?《富爸爸.穷爸爸》作者逆风加...

bǐ tè bì hái néng mǎi ? fù bà bà . qióng bà bà zuò zhě nì fēng jiā . . .

Can Bitcoin still be bought? "Rich Dad. Poor Dad" author of "Poor Dad" adds backwind...

It之家Feb 2026

不只换轮胎那么简单:比亚迪详解澳洲车型本地化调校细节,悬架更硬...

bù zhī huàn lún tāi nà má jiǎn dān : bǐ yà dí xiáng jiě ào zhōu chē xíng běn dì huà diào jiào xì jié , xuán jià gēng yìng . . .

It's not just as simple as changing tires: BYD explains the details of localized tuning of Australian models in detail, and the suspension is stiffer...

Tatoeba

你对这场比赛有什么感想?

Nǐ duì zhè chǎng bǐsài yǒu shénme gǎnxiǎng?

How did you feel about the game?

Tatoeba

比赛什么时候开始?

Bǐsài shénme shíhou kāishǐ?

What time will the game start?

Tatoeba

为什么这两天一天比一天热?

Wèishénme zhè liǎng tiān yī tiān bǐ yī tiān rè?

Why has it been getting hotter and hotter these last two days?

Tatoeba

黛比,你的学校在这附近吗?

Dài bǐ, nǐ de xuéxiào zài zhè fùjìn ma?

Debbie, is your school near here?

Character Family

比 Radical Family — Characters sharing the compare radical

Related Characters

Homophones — Characters pronounced bǐ

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 比 (bǐ) mean in Chinese?
比 (bǐ) primarily means "belgium." It is classified as HSK Level 2, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #199 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 比 have?
比 is written with 4 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 比?
The radical associated with 比 is 比 (compare). This radical appears in many characters related to compare.
What are the components of 比?
比 is composed of: 匕 (structural), 匕 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰匕匕 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 比?
Common words with 比 include: 比赛 (bǐ sài, "competition (sports etc)"); 比较 (bǐ jiào, "to compare"); 比如 (bǐ rú, "for example"); 比尔 (bǐ ěr, "Bill (name)"); 比如说 (bǐ rú shuō, "for example"). There are over 105 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 比 (bǐ)?
Several characters share the pronunciation bǐ: 必 (certainly), 笔 (writing brush), 避 (to avoid), 毕 (the whole of), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 比 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 比 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 比 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken 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.