背 · bèi
back; back side; behind; betray
Meanings & readings
Meaning & readings
back; back side; behind; betray
- Mandarin
- bèi
- Cantonese
- bui3
Unihan definitions and selected character readings. Read the word to establish its pronunciation in context.
Readings in Japanese, Korean & Vietnamese
Readings recorded for 背 in other language traditions. These are character-level records, not word translations or interchangeable pronunciations.
Japanese 日本語
Grouped by the source’s kana notation; no frequency ranking is implied.
On’yomi · katakana
Kun’yomi · hiragana
Katakana generally indicates on’yomi; hiragana generally indicates kun’yomi. The source does not identify everyday, rare, historical or name use per reading. Kana strings are preserved, including any written endings; consult a Japanese word entry for actual use.
Go deeperJisho ↗Wiktionary ↗
Source record & scope
Unicode Unihan 17.0.0 · kJapanese ↗ · provisional property
ハイ ヘ ネ バイ ダイ せ せい そむく そむけるKorean 한국어
Hanja readings · Hangul
Source codes are separated below. They are neither sounds nor tones; a character reading alone does not specify a whole word’s pronunciation.
Go deeperNaver Hanja ↗Wiktionary ↗
Reading sources explained
- 배
- KS X 1001 (0) · Educational Hanja (E)
Vietnamese Tiếng Việt
Character readings · Quốc ngữ
Vietnamese readings associated with this Han character. This field alone does not establish word meanings, current usage, or a complete account of Hán-Nôm reading traditions.
Go deeperHán Việt (Thi Viện) ↗Wiktionary ↗
Form & structure
Writing & identity
- Unicode
- U+80CC
- Radical
- 肉 · 130
- Strokes
- 9 · Unihan
- Residual
- 5
Source record · Unihan 17.0. Individual senses and historical claims have not yet been reviewed by zimai.
Stroke order
9 strokesModern stroke order; regional conventions can differ. Stroke medians: Make Me a Hanzi via HanziLookupJS, drawn as an even pen line.
Graphical structure
How to read these symbols
⿰ left–right · ⿱ above–below · ⿻ overlap. Dotted boxes indicate positions, not missing characters. Each symbol describes the components that follow it; nested symbols describe a component in more detail. Source codes identify alternative analyses, not a writing sequence or an etymology.
BabelStone IDS · 2025-06-27. Region tags are preserved; 〾 marks approximation and {n} identifies an unencoded source component. These describe graphical structure, not historical derivation.
Words & connections
Words using 背
Character connections
1 catalogue records include this shape in their first retained IDS. Graphical containment does not imply shared etymology.
Component roles · attributed
- 北 sound component · CJKVI analysis
Source analysis · 北聲
Line 3574 · ⿱北肉 · 北聲 · source reference 1350240
Source analyses, kept separate from modern IDS. CJKVI labels are not individually verified historical conclusions. Evidence & limits ↗
History & distinctions
Related forms
No simplified/traditional variant property is retained for this record.
Historical readings
- Middle Chinese
- bwojH · 蒲昧 反切 · #2508
- Middle Chinese
- pwojH · 補妹 反切 · #2523
Guangyun-based transcriptions · PHONO-ML · CC BY 4.0. These describe historical reading categories, not modern word pronunciation.
Source row & reading categories
CSV line 14259 · bwojH = 蟹合一去灰並 · pwojH = 蟹合一去灰幫
Automatically generated in the source dataset; the authors checked a subset and acknowledge possible errors. All source readings are retained separately. Notation & method ↗
Sources & reference
Evidence & next depth
Retained Unihan properties
- kMandarin
- bèi
- kCantonese
- bui3
- kDefinition
- back; back side; behind; betray
- kTotalStrokes
- 9
- kRSUnicode
- 130.5
- kGradeLevel
- 3
- kTGH
- 2013:1467
Readings across dictionaries
- Hanyu Da Zidian
- bèi,bēi 32058.040
- Xiandai Hanyu · 1983
- bēi 0044.050 · bèi 0047.060
- Tongyong Guifan · 2013
- bēi 013.160 · bèi 014.120
- Reading counts · XDHYPLCD
- bèi(433) bēi(72)
- Mandarin / Cantonese · SMSZD
- bèi粵bui3 bèi粵bui6 bēi粵bui3
Reference desk
- Fanqie spellings
- 蒲昧 補妹
- Kangxi positions
- 0977.210
- Guangyun positions
- 387.44 389.30
- GSR references
- 0909e
- Cangjie
- LPB
- Four-corner
- 1122.7