(bì) - must, necessarily (bound morpheme) in Mandarin
bìTraditional: 必
Translation
must, necessarily (bound morpheme)
Word origin
A single character meaning must or necessarily. It is now written as 心 (heart) with an added stroke, though its original graph is thought to have depicted a handle or marked-off standard; it is borrowed for the abstract sense of necessity.
- Origin
- pictographic
- Root
- 必 (bì), originally a graph of a handle or boundary marker, borrowed for the meaning must
Stroke order
必
Examples
。
You must arrive on time.
。
There's no need to worry.
。
You don't need to apologise.
，。
Putting in this much heart, you are certain to succeed.
。
I will definitely be there tomorrow.
必 (bì) is a bound morpheme meaning must or necessarily. It rarely stands alone but drives the modal pair 必须 (must) and 必要 (necessary), as well as the negation 不必 (need not).
Where this fits
Appears in 3 words
Multi-character compounds in the corpus that contain 必.
Used in
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必: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "必" (must, necessarily (bound morpheme)): 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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Start your free weekThis word is part of lesson 102.