本位

Mandarin · pinyin běn wèi

Meanings

  1. (economics) standard; benchmark (as in 金本位 jīn běn wèi "gold standard")
  2. one's own department or unit
  3. central reference point; fundamental frame of reference (used after a noun N, indicates an N-centered outlook, as in 學校本位 xué xiào běn wèi "school-centered approach")
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Characters in this entry

本
běn · root, origin, source; basis
位
wèi · throne; position, post; rank, status; seat
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3–4 · ben3 wei4

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 3 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

bun2 wai6

Cantonese word readings for 本位. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

noun

  1. (numismatics) monetary standard
  2. one's own department or post
  3. (literary) self; oneself

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

本位 · ben3 wei4
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 55,732
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record本位 本位 [ben3 wei4] /(economics) standard; benchmark (as in 金本位[jin1 ben3 wei4] "gold standard")/one's own department or unit/central reference point; fundamental frame of reference (used after a noun N, indicates an N-centered outlook, as in 學校本位|学校本位[xue2 xiao4 ben3 wei4] "school-centered approach")/