Kilo Lingo

(bié) - do not (imperative); other in Mandarin

bié

Traditional: 別

Line drawing of 别
Coloured illustration of 别
HSK 2
#96 of 5,000 Core 1000

Translation

do not (imperative); other

Word origin

别 'to separate, other' is composed of a left element (in older forms relating to bone, 冎) and the knife radical 刂on the right, conveying the idea of cutting or dividing things apart. From 'separate' it extended to 'other' and to the prohibitive 'do not'.

Origin
compound
Root
left element (冎, bone) + 刂(knife radical)

Stroke order

Stroke order for 别

别

Examples

！

Do not worry!

，。

Stop talking, I already know.

？

Is there any other way?

，。

Do not get angry, I was joking.

。

I would like to look at another colour.

Appears in 6 words

Multi-character compounds in the corpus that contain 别.

别人bié rénother people, others, someone else特别tè biéespecially, particularly, special别的bié deother, else, other things别说bié shuōdo not say; let alone别动bié dòngdon't move, stay still别管bié guǎnnever mind, don't bother about, leave it alone

Used in

Stories

(6)

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This word is part of lesson 2.