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(bēi) - cup, glass; a cup of, a glass of in Mandarin

bēi

Traditional: 杯

#2,721 by frequencyCore 5000

Translation

cup, glass; a cup of, a glass of

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Word origin

A phono-semantic character: 木 (mù, wood) for the material of the vessel, with 不 (bù) as the phonetic.

Origin
phono-semantic
Root
木 (wood) + 不 (bù, phonetic)

Stroke order

Stroke order for 杯

杯

Examples

。

I would like a cup of tea.

。

He drank three glasses of water in one go.

。

There are two cups of coffee on the table.

，？

Another one, all right?

。

This glass of wine is for you.

杯 (bēi) is the measure word for anything you drink from a cup or a glass. One character covers both, so 一杯水 is a glass of water and 一杯茶 is a cup of tea, and the vessel is left to context.

On its own 杯 is not a normal noun in speech. The cup as an object is 杯子, with the empty suffix that Mandarin adds to bare one syllable nouns. 杯 also names trophies, which is why the World Cup is 世界杯.

The trap is dropping the measure word. English lets you say two coffees; Mandarin cannot. 两咖啡 is broken, and you need 两杯咖啡. The same goes for demonstratives: 这杯 is this glass, while 这咖啡 will make a listener wait for the missing syllable.

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Used in

Stories

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Mandarin · Free printables

杯: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "杯" (cup, glass; a cup of, a glass of): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

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This word is taught in chapter 9, lesson 13: Measure words: hands, dogs and doors you can see through.