(pái) - card; sign, plate; brand; medal in Mandarin
páiTraditional: 牌
Translation
card; sign, plate; brand; medal
Word origin
Written with 片 (piàn, a split board) beside the phonetic 卑 (bēi). The original sense was a flat wooden tablet, from which the card, the sign and the medal all follow.
- Origin
- Chinese
- Root
- 片 (piàn, board) + 卑 (bēi, phonetic)
Stroke order
牌
Examples
。
Let us play cards together this evening.
木。
There is a wooden sign by the entrance.
。
I have memorised his number plate.
。
Shoes of this brand are expensive.
。
She won the gold medal in the competition.
牌 (pái) started as a flat board and never really left. Everything it means today is something flat with information on it: a playing card, a shop sign, a number plate, a name badge, a medal round a neck.
The compounds do most of the work. 打牌 is to play cards, 牌子 is a brand or a sign, 车牌 is a number plate, 门牌 is a house number and 金牌 is a gold medal. In business writing 品牌 is the brand as a concept, while 牌子 is the everyday spoken word for the same thing.
The trap is using the bare character where a compound belongs. 这个牌很好 sounds unfinished; say 这个牌子很好. Keep 牌 on its own for cards on the table and for the set phrases above, and let 牌子 carry the brand sense in speech.
Where this fits
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牌: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "牌" (card; sign, plate; brand; medal): 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 58.