柄 (bǐng): handle or shaft (of an axe etc), (of a flower, leaf or fruit) stem, sth that affords an advantage to an opponent

柄 (bǐng) is a Chinese character meaning “handle or shaft (of an axe etc).” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 木 (semantic) and 丙 (phonetic). It ranks #2186 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 柄 tree. Its radical form 木 (tree) appears in many related characters such as 本 (běn, (bound form) root), 机 (jī, machine, opportunity), 条 (tiáo, strip).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. handle or shaft (of an axe etc)
  2. (of a flower, leaf or fruit) stem
  3. sth that affords an advantage to an opponent

Etymology & Origin

柄

pictophonetictree

Decomposition: ⿰木丙 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
把柄nounbǎ bǐnghandle
笑柄nounxiào bǐnga matter for ridicule
手柄nounshǒu bǐnghandle
权柄nounquán bǐngauthority
曲柄nounqū bǐngcrank handle
话柄nounhuà bǐnga pretext for gossip
授人以柄phraseshòu rén yǐ bǐngto hand someone the swordhilt (idiom)
剑柄jiàn bǐngsword hilt
游戏手柄yóu xì shǒu bǐnggamepad
手摇柄shǒu yáo bǐnghand crank
柄国verbbǐng guóto hold state power
国柄guó bǐngstate power
长柄cháng bǐnglong handle
果柄guǒ bǐngstem of a fruit
眼柄yǎn bǐngeye stalk (of crustacean etc)
27
Total compounds
15
As first character
78
As last character
7
As middle character

柄 appears in 27 compound words: 15 as the first character, 78 as the last, and 7 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 柄 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

伞sǎn
0.590878 co-occurrences
裸luǒ
0.524810 co-occurrences
刀dāo
0.4881,492 co-occurrences
叶yè
0.4821,412 co-occurrences
尾wěi
0.4762,432 co-occurrences
斧fǔ
0.469260 co-occurrences
握wò
0.456642 co-occurrences
勺sháo
0.45286 co-occurrences
菌jūn
0.442704 co-occurrences
菇gū
0.441170 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

授人以柄shòu rén yǐ bǐngHSK 7+

to relinquish one's power or authority to someone else; leave room for criticism

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

爷爷在门前种了一棵柄苗,现在已经长得很高了。

yé yé zài mén qián zhǒng le yī kē bǐng miáo , xiàn zài yǐ jīng cháng dé hěn gāo le .

Grandpa planted a sapling by the door, and now it has grown very tall.

奇客SolidotAug 2026

从右至左或竖排中日韩(CJK)文档的对象大小调整句柄能正确工作。

cóng yòu zhì zuǒ huò shù pái zhōng rì hán ( C J K ) wén dàng de duì xiàng dà xiǎo diào zhěng jù bǐng néng zhèng què gōng zuò .

The object resize handles in right-to-left or vertically oriented Chinese, Japanese, and Korean (CJK) documents work correctly.

爱范儿Aug 2026

握紧手柄,爱范儿带你看看,今年科隆游戏展上最值得关注的游戏。

wò jǐn shǒu bǐng , ài fàn ér dài nǐ kàn kàn , jīn nián kē lóng yóu xì zhǎn shàng zuì zhí dé guān zhù de yóu xì .

Grab your controller—iFanr is here to show you the games you won't want to miss at this year's Gamescom.

SmzdmMar 2026

Switch 2 Pro手柄是‘顶级体验’还是‘高价鸡肋’?1000...

S w i t c h 2 P r o shǒu bǐng shì dǐng jí tǐ yàn hái shì gāo jià jī 肋 ? 1 0 0 0 . . .

Is the Switch 2 Pro Controller a "Top-Tier Experience" or a "Overpriced Flop"? 1000...

SmzdmMar 2026

教程三:巴图塞拉batocera手柄如何设置

jiào chéng sān : bā tú sāi lā b a t o c e r a shǒu bǐng rú hé shè zhì

Tutorial 3: How to Set Up the Batocera Controller

SmzdmMar 2026

crossover 26手柄失效解决方案!

c r o s s o v e r 2 6 shǒu bǐng shī xiào jiě jué fāng àn !

Solution for a malfunctioning Crossover 26 controller!

Tatoeba

我们成了整个村庄的笑柄。

Wǒmen chéngle zhěnggè cūnzhuāng de xiàobǐng.

We've become a mockery to the whole village.

Tatoeba

我开门的时候把门柄扭了出来。

Wǒ kāimén de shíhou bǎ ménbǐng niǔ le chūlái.

I tried to open the door, and the doorknob came off.

Tatoeba

这是个没有柄的平锅。

Zhè shì gè méiyǒu bǐng de píngguō.

Here is a pan without handles.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 木 (tree) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced bǐng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 柄 (bǐng) mean in Chinese?
柄 (bǐng) primarily means "handle or shaft (of an axe etc)." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2186 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 柄 have?
柄 is written with 9 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 柄?
The radical associated with 柄 is 木 (tree). This radical appears in many characters related to tree.
What are the components of 柄?
柄 is composed of: 木 (semantic), 丙 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰木丙 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 柄?
Common words with 柄 include: 把柄 (bǎ bǐng, "handle"); 笑柄 (xiào bǐng, "a matter for ridicule"); 手柄 (shǒu bǐng, "handle"); 权柄 (quán bǐng, "authority"); 曲柄 (qū bǐng, "crank handle"). There are over 27 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 柄 (bǐng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation bǐng: 病 (illness), 炳 (bright), 并 (and), 兵 (soldiers), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 柄 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 柄 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 柄 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.