Radical 21

匕
20 ⼓ ◄	21st	► ⼕ 22
Pinyin :	bǐ (= spoon)
Zhuyin :	ㄅ ㄧ ˇ
Hiragana :	さ じ の ひ sajinohi
Kanji :	匕 の ヒ sajinohi
Hangul :	비수
Sinocorean :	비
Codepoint :	U + 5315
Stroke sequence :

The radical 21 with the meaning of " Spoon " is one of 23 traditional radicals of Chinese characters that are written with two strokes.

With 6 combinations of characters in Mathews' Chinese-English Dictionary , it rarely occurs in the lexicon. Some modern dictionaries such as the Xinhua dictionary no longer even list führen as a radical.
The sign is similar to the katakana sign ヒ "hi".
In some character sets, Radical 21 匕 (U + 5315) is very similar to the character 七 (U + 4E03) for the number seven.

The original sign of the radical was the predecessor of 妣 (= female), a combination of the radical 38女 (= woman) and 比 as a sound carrier, which later meant "deceased mother". The symbol 匕 transformed terms into a feminine form on the oracle bone by adding symbols such as 马 / 馬 (= horse), 羊 (= sheep), 猪 (= pig). With 牝 (牛 = cow + 匕 female) this is still the case today: 牝 马 / 牝 馬 (= mare).

The radical is also explained with its meaning spoon, especially since it is still used that way, for example in:

character	Explanation
匙	small spoon, with 匕 = spoon as a carrier of meaning and 是 as a sound carrier

However, 匕 has largely lost these meanings today and has instead become a general component, such as in modern Chinese abbreviations

• 旨 (= target) or
• 它 (= it).

The right component in 化 (= change) also has nothing to do with 匕 in its original meaning.

In the sign 北 it means north, north, north, northward: 北京 "Northern capital" ( Beijing ).

Character combinations ruled by radical 21

Chinese bowl with spoon

Strokes	character
+ 00	匕
+ 02	化
+ 03	北
+ 09	匘 匙

In the Unicode block Kangxi radicals , radical 21 is coded under the code point number 12.052 (U + 2F14).

literature

• Edoardo Fazzioli : Painted Words. 214 Chinese characters - from picture to concept . Marixverlag, Wiesbaden 2004, ISBN 3-937715-34-7 , p. 128 .

For detailed references, see List of Traditional Radicals: Literature

Web links

Commons : Radikal 21  - Graphic representations of Radikal 21

• Xiù cai.oai.de (PDF; 1.72 MB) Explanation of Radikal 21 on page 13