(pèi): to join, to fit, to mate

(pèi) is a Chinese character meaning “to join.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #738 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, wine. Its radical form (wine) appears in many related characters such as (suān, sour), (xǐng, to wake up), (zuì, intoxicated).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to join
  2. to fit
  3. to mate

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticwine

Decomposition: ⿰酉己 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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
verbpèi hématching5
verbfēn pèito distribute5
verb/adjectivedā pèito pair up6
verb/nounpèi bèito allocate6
verbpèi tàoto form a complete set6
verbpèi sòngto put together an order and deliver it (i.e. 配貨|配货[pei4 huo4] and 送貨|送货[song4 huo4])5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
pǐ pèito mate or marry
pèi fāngprescription
zhī pèito control
pèi duìto pair up
pèi yuèto create music for a movie or stage production
bān pèito be well matched
jiāo pèimating
pèi ǒuspouse
pèi yīndubbing (filmmaking)
pèi jǐto ration
pèi juésupporting role
pèi liàoingredients (in a cooking recipe)
pèi jiàncomponent
zhuāng pèito assemble
diào pèito allocate
100
Total compounds
56
As first character
31
As last character
13
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 56 as the first character, 31 as the last, and 13 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.

yīn
0.676667,572 co-occurrences
ǒu
0.635152,190 co-occurrences
zhì
0.571234,222 co-occurrences
0.56583,214 co-occurrences
jiǎo
0.541228,528 co-occurrences
tào
0.50047,688 co-occurrences
0.481247,244 co-occurrences
jiā
0.47995,160 co-occurrences
0.47530,054 co-occurrences
bèi
0.46660,750 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

ànláofēnpèiHSK 5+

distribution (of benefits, pay etc.) according to one's job performance

phrase
ànxūfēnpèiHSK 5+

distribution according to need (principle of distribution in a communist society)

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

字在不同的语境中有不同的用法。

pèi zì zài bù tóng de yǔ jìng zhōng yǒu bù tóng de yòng fǎ .

The use of captions varies depending on the context.

99 健康网Feb 2026

真正的无糖食品推荐哪些?料只有生牛乳的酸奶算吗

zhēn zhèng de wú táng shí pǐn tuī jiàn nǎ xiē ? pèi liào zhī yǒu shēng niú rǔ de suān nǎi suàn ma

What are the recommended foods for real sugar-free? Is yogurt with only raw milk counted?

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...学采购即时到位 Coupang酷澎火箭速隔日到货

. . . xué cǎi gòu jí shí dào wèi C o u p a n g kù péng huǒ jiàn sù pèi gé rì dào huò

... Learn to purchase immediately in place, Coupang Cool Peng rocket speed dating arrives the next day

JiemianFeb 2026

雷军公布新一代SU7赤霞红色,此前已开启小订

léi jūn gōng bù xīn yī dài S U 7 chì xiá hóng pèi sè , cǐ qián yǐ kāi qǐ xiǎo dìng

Lei Jun announced a new generation of SU7 Caxia Red color scheme, which has been opened for small orders

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

存债感大升级!00988B进军月债券市场 全台首创锁定7.5%高票息债券

cún zhài gǎn dà shēng jí ! 0 0 9 8 8 B jìn jūn yuè pèi zhài quàn shì chǎng quán tái shǒu chuàng suǒ dìng 7 . 5 gāo piào xī zhài quàn

The sense of debt deposit has been greatly upgraded! 00988B entered the monthly bond market and was the first in Taiwan to lock in 7.5% high-coupon bonds

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

关税变局 台需严谨评估

guān shuì biàn jú tái xū yán jǐn píng gū pèi tào

The tariff change bureau needs to be rigorously evaluated and supported

Tatoeba

您真的点了地瓜片来搭素食汉堡吗?

Nín zhēn de diǎn le dìguā piàn lái dāpèi sùshí hànbǎo ma?

Did you really order sweet potato fries to go with your veggie burger?

Tatoeba

你们也有贩售咖啡壶件吗?

Nǐmen yě yǒu fànshòu kāfēihú pèijiàn ma?

Do you sell coffee pot accessories too?

Tatoeba

他为《阿凡达》了音。

Tā wèi 《 āfándá 》 pèi le yīn.

He has dubbed in "Avatar".

Tatoeba

男女搭,干活不累。

Nánnǚ dāpèi, gànhuó bù lèi.

When man and woman unite, work is no longer as tiring.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced pèi

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 配 (pèi) mean in Chinese?
配 (pèi) primarily means "to join." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #738 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 配 and 纪?
配 (pèi) and 纪 (jì) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 酉 vs 纟 (same 己 component).
How many strokes does 配 have?
配 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 配?
The radical associated with 配 is 酉 (wine). This radical appears in many characters related to wine.
What are the components of 配?
配 is composed of: 酉 (semantic), 己 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰酉己 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 配?
Common words with 配 include: 配合 (pèi hé, "matching"); 匹配 (pǐ pèi, "to mate or marry"); 分配 (fēn pèi, "to distribute"); 配方 (pèi fāng, "prescription"); 搭配 (dā pèi, "to pair up"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 配 (pèi)?
Several characters share the pronunciation pèi: 胚 (embryo), 陪 (to accompany), 培 (to cultivate, to train), 赔 (to compensate), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 配 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 配 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

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.