宾 (bīn): visitor, guest, object (in grammar)

宾 (bīn) is a Chinese character meaning “visitor.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 宀 (structural) and 兵 (structural). It ranks #1524 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 宾 a solider 兵 quartered under one's roof 宀. Its radical form 宀 (roof) appears in many related characters such as 客 (kè, guest, customer), 家 (jiā, home, family), 它 (tā, it).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. visitor
  2. guest
  3. object (in grammar)

Etymology & Origin

宾

ideographicA solider 兵 quartered under one's roof 宀

Decomposition: ⿱宀兵 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 宾

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
宾馆nounbīn guǎnguesthouse3
嘉宾nounjiā bīnesteemed guest5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
来宾nounlái bīnguest
贵宾nounguì bīnhonored guest
菲律宾proper-nounfēi lǜ bīnthe Philippines
宾客nounbīn kèguests
罗宾逊luó bīn xùnRobinson (name)
宾夕法尼亚州proper-nounbīn xī fǎ ní yà zhōuPennsylvania
斯宾塞sī bīn sài(name) Spencer
罗宾汉proper-nounluó bīn hànRobin Hood (English 12th century folk hero)
宾果nounbīn guǒ(loanword) bingo
迎宾verbyíng bīnto welcome a guest
宾州proper-nounbīn zhōuPennsylvania
宾利proper-nounbīn lìBentley
礼宾verblǐ bīnprotocol
宾至如归phrasebīn zhì rú guīguests feel at home (in a hotel, guest house etc)
鲁宾lǔ bīnRubin (name)
88
Total compounds
31
As first character
28
As last character
41
As middle character

宾 appears in 88 compound words: 31 as the first character, 28 as the last, and 41 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 宾 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

菲fēi
0.73050 co-occurrences
夕xī
0.5905,296 co-occurrences
律lǜ
0.57617,529 co-occurrences
嘉jiā
0.53216,926 co-occurrences
颁bān
0.5202,766 co-occurrences
逊xùn
0.5112,054 co-occurrences
馆guǎn
0.5056,588 co-occurrences
宜yí
0.4582,764 co-occurrences
迎yíng
0.4512,760 co-occurrences
贵guì
0.4391,844 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (7)

宾客盈门bīn kè yíng ménHSK 7+

guests filled the hall (idiom); a house full of distinguished visitors

phrase
宾朋满座bīn péng mǎn zuòHSK 4+

guests filled all the seats (idiom); a house full of distinguished visitors

phrase
宾至如归bīnzhìrúguīHSK 6+

guests feel at home (in a hotel, guest house, etc.)

phrase
宾主尽欢bīn zhǔ jìn huānHSK 4+

both the guests and the hosts thoroughly enjoy themselves (idiom)

phrase
斯宾诺莎Sībīnnuòshā

Spinoza (surname)

相敬如宾xiāngjìngrúbīnHSK 5+

to mutually respect

phrase
喧宾夺主xuānbīnduózhǔHSK 7+

a minor issue takes precedence over a major one; a minor player upstages the main attraction

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

宾字在日常生活中使用频率中等。

bīn zì zài rì cháng shēng huó zhōng shǐ yòng pín lǜ zhōng děng .

The character "宾" is used moderately frequently in daily life.

StheadlineFeb 2026

体坛早报|意甲双雄命运迥异 皇马挫宾菲加晋级 曼联负债增加

tǐ tán zǎo bào yì jiǎ shuāng xióng mìng yùn 迥 yì huáng mǎ cuò bīn 菲 jiā jìn jí 曼 lián fù zhài zēng jiā

Sports Morning Post|Serie A duo have very different fates, Real Madrid defeated Benfica to advance, Manchester United's debt increased

StheadlineFeb 2026

欧联|云尼斯奥斯奠胜 皇家马德里2:1挫宾菲加晋16强

ōu lián yún ní sī ào sī diàn shèng huáng jiā mǎ dé lǐ 2 : 1 cuò bīn 菲 jiā jìn 1 6 qiáng

Europa League | Winnis Osdian won Real Madrid 2-1 to defeat Benfica to advance to the round of 16

Nownews今日新聞Feb 2026

快讯/国3龙井段惊险车祸!宾士男猛撞缓撞车 “车头全烂”酿1伤

kuài xùn guó 3 lóng jǐng duàn jīng xiǎn chē huò ! bīn shì nán měng zhuàng huǎn zhuàng chē chē tóu quán làn niàng 1 shāng

News/National 3 Longjing section thrilling car accident! The Mercedes-Benz man slammed into the car and crashed slowly, and the front of the car was completely rotten, causing 1 injury

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

广角镜/新社“樱花鸟森林” 花道迎宾

guǎng jiǎo jìng xīn shè 樱 huā niǎo sēn lín huā dào yíng bīn

Wide-angle lens/Xinshe "Cherry Blossom Bird Forest" flower path welcomes guests

WorldjournalFeb 2026

中国公务员春节参加相亲 炫富有宾利、保时捷、房子很多

zhōng guó gōng wù yuán chūn jié cān jiā xiāng qīn xuàn fù yǒu bīn lì , bǎo shí jié , fáng zǐ hěn duō

Chinese civil servants participate in the blind date during the Spring Festival and show off their wealth Bentley, Porsche, and many houses

Tatoeba

斯宾诺莎是泛神论者。

Sībīnnuòshā shì fànshénlùn zhě.

Spinoza was a pantheist.

Tatoeba

这里是三星级宾馆,三百元住一晚。

Zhèlǐ shì sānxīng jí bīnguǎn, sān bǎi yuán zhù yī wǎn.

This is a three-star hotel; three hundred dollars a night.

Tatoeba

这家宾馆建于大约五十年前。

Zhè jiā bīnguǎn jiàn yú dàyuē wǔshí niánqián.

That hotel was established about 50 years ago.

Tatoeba

请帮我叫宾馆保安。

Qǐng bāng wǒ jiào bīnguǎn bǎo'ān.

Please get me hotel security.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced bīn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 宾 (bīn) mean in Chinese?
宾 (bīn) primarily means "visitor." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #1524 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 宾 have?
宾 is written with 10 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 宾?
The radical associated with 宾 is 宀 (roof). This radical appears in many characters related to roof.
What are the components of 宾?
宾 is composed of: 宀 (structural), 兵 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱宀兵 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 宾?
Common words with 宾 include: 宾馆 (bīn guǎn, "guesthouse"); 嘉宾 (jiā bīn, "esteemed guest"); 来宾 (lái bīn, "guest"); 贵宾 (guì bīn, "honored guest"); 菲律宾 (fēi lǜ bīn, "the Philippines"). There are over 88 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 宾 (bīn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation bīn: 滨 ((bound form) water's edge), 彬 (urbane), 缤 (used in 繽紛|缤纷). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 宾 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 宾 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 宾 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.