筆

Stroke order

筆 (Kangxi radical 118, 竹+6, 12 strokes, cangjie input 竹中手 (HLQ), four-corner 8850₇, composition ⿱𥫗聿)

• 𰂯, 𠽩, 𰊫, 𱜏, 𢴩, 潷, 𤢇, 𨖷, 𪴅, 𤏫, 𤔯, 㻶, 𰧤, 𫄂, 𨅗, 𨬾, 𬴟, 𡼸, 𤺭

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 882, character 19
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 25987
• Dae Jaweon: page 1310, character 27
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 5, page 2970, character 9
• Unihan data for U+7B46

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *prud) and ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : semantic 竹 (“bamboo”) + phonetic 聿 (OC *b·lud, “writing brush”) – a hand holding a brush 聿. The bamboo (竹) refers to the material of traditional Chinese brushes.

Possibly from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *b-ris (“to draw; picture”) or *rit (“to draw; boundary”) (STEDT). Related to 聿 (OC *b·lud); more distant cognates from the allofamic root *b-rəy (“to draw, mark; boundary”) include 理 (OC *rɯʔ, “to cut jade, put in order”), Tibetan འབྲི ('bri, “to write”), Burmese ရေး (re:, “to write”).

Benedict (1972) surmises that this might ultimately be a loan from Austro-Tai into Sino-Tibetan; compare Proto-Austronesian *bulut (“hairy filaments of certain plants, husk”) (> Cebuano bulut).

筆

1. writing brush
2. (countable) pen; pencil (Classifier: 枝／支 m c mn; 把 md)

   你有筆嗎？記一下這個電話號碼。 [MSC, trad.]
   你有笔吗？记一下这个电话号码。 [MSC, simp.]

   Nǐ yǒu bǐ ma? Jì yīxià zhè ge diànhuà hàomǎ. [Pinyin]

   Do you have a pen to write this phone number?

3. ^† to write; to compose
4. Classifier for writing or drawing: stroke (of Chinese characters, in a painting, etc.)

   你這個字寫錯了，這裡少了一筆。 [MSC, trad.]
   你这个字写错了，这里少了一笔。 [MSC, simp.]

   Nǐ zhè ge zì xiě cuò le, zhèlǐ shào le yī bǐ. [Pinyin]

   The character you have miswritten lacks one stroke here.

5. Classifier for sums of money and deals. ⇒ all nouns using this classifier

   我會儘早把這筆錢還給你。 [MSC, trad.]
   我会尽早把这笔钱还给你。 [MSC, simp.]

   Wǒ huì jǐnzǎo bǎ zhè bǐ qián huán gěi nǐ. [Pinyin]

   I will return the money as soon as possible.

Others

• → Buryat: ᠪᠢᠷ (bir) / биирэ (biire)
• → Khmer: ពិត (pɨt, “small Chinese-style writing brush”)
• → Korean: 붓 (but, “writing brush”)
• → Proto-Be: *ɓitᴰ¹
  • Lingao: bit⁷, bɔt⁷'
• → Manchu: ᡶᡳ (fi, “brush”), ᠪᡳᡨᡥᡝ (bithe, “book”), ᠪᡳᡨᡥᡝᠰᡳ (bithesi, “scribe”)
  • → Chinese: 筆帖式／笔帖式 (bǐtièshì, “scribe during the Qing Dynasty”)
  • → Nivkh: питғы (pitγə)
• → Tibetan: པིར (pir, “writing brush, pen”)
  • → Mongolian: ᠪᠢᠷ (bir) / бийр (biir)
• → Proto-Turkic: *biti-
  • Old Turkic: 𐰋𐰃𐱅𐰃 (b²it²i /⁠biti-⁠/, “to write”)
  • → Mongolian: ᠪᠢᠴᠢᠬᠦ (bičikü) / бичих (bičix, “to write”)
  • ⇒ Proto-Turkic: *bitig
    • → Hungarian: betű
    • Oghur:
      • Chuvash: пӗтӳ (pĕt̬ü, “amulet”)
    • Common Turkic: *bitig, *bitik
    • Proto-Oghuz: *bitig, *bitik
      • West Oghuz:
        • Old Anatolian Turkish: بِتى (biti, “letter, written document”)
          • Azerbaijani: bitik (archaic)
          • Ottoman Turkish: بتى (biti, “letter, written document; memory (literature); bill, document”)
            • Turkish: biti (“letter, post; amulet; notebook; book; forme; amulet; credentials, document, compass, licence; clerk”) (dialectal)
      • East Oghuz:
        • Salar: bitik
    • Karluk:
      • Karakhanid: بِتِكٔ (bitig, bitik)
        • Khorezmian Turkic:
          • → Bulgar: بطك (bitik)
          • Chagatai:
            • Uyghur: بېتىك (bëtik)
    • Kipchak:
      • Kipchak: بتو (bitüv, bitiv), بتی (biti), بتك (bitik)^[1]
      • North Kipchak:
        • Bashkir: бетеү (betew, “amulet”)
        • Tatar: бөти (böti, “letter, amulet”)
      • West Kipchak:
        • Karaim: битик (bitik)
        • Kumyk: битик (bitik, “amulet”)
      • South Kipchak:
        • Caspian:
          • Kazakh: бітік (bıtık, “letter, scripture”)
    • Siberian:
      • Old Turkic: 𐰋𐰃𐱅𐰏 (b²it²g /⁠bitig⁠/)
        • → Turkish: betik
        • Old Uyghur: [script needed] (bitig)
          • Western Yugur: [script needed] (pïʰtïɣ, “book”)
    • → Mongolian: бичиг (bičig)
      • → Kyrgyz: бичик (bicik, “book of Kalmyk”)
      • → Southern Altai: бичик (bičik, “book”)
      • → Khakas: пічік (pìçìk, “book”)
      • → Shor: пичик (“script, alphabet”)
      • → Tuvan: бижик (bijik)
      • → Yakut: бичик (bicik)
• → Vietnamese: viết (“to write”)
• → Zhuang: bit

• “筆”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[2], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• “Entry #8842”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2024.

(Third grade kyōiku kanji)

• Go-on: ひち (hichi)
• Kan-on: ひつ (hitsu, Jōyō)
• Kun: ふで (fude, 筆, Jōyō)、ふんで (funde, 筆)、ふみて (fumite, 筆)
• Nanori: くし (kushi)

/fumite/ → /fũnde/ → /fude/

Shift in pronunciation from fumite below,^[2] caused by a regular shift where medial み (mi) causes nasalization of the preceding vowel and voicing of the following consonant, with the nasalization reverting in some cases. Now the most common pronunciation in modern Japanese.

• (Tokyo) ふで [fùdé] (Heiban – [0])^[3]
• IPA^(key): [ɸɯ̟de̞]

筆(ふで) • (fude) 

1. a writing brush, a painting brush, a pen
2. writing:
   1. the act of writing
   2. something written
   3. handwriting, how someone writes

The pen sense is more commonly expressed using the English-derived term ペン (pen).

/fumite/ → /fũnde/ → /funde/

Shift in pronunciation from fumite below, caused by a regular shift where medial み (mi) causes nasalization of the preceding vowel and voicing of the following consonant. Listed with this reading in the 観智院 (Kanchi-in) edition of the 11th- or 12th-century 類聚名義抄 (Ruiju Myōgishō) dictionary.^[2]

Superseded by the fude reading above in modern Japanese.

• IPA^(key): [ɸɯ̟̃nde̞]

筆(ふんで) • (funde) 

1. (obsolete) same as for fude above: brush; pen; writing

Compound of 文 (fumi, “writing”) +‎ 手 (te, “hand”). Appears with this reading in the Man'yōshū, circa 759.

Superseded by the fude reading above in modern Japanese.

• IPA^(key): [ɸɯ̟mʲite̞]

筆(ふみて) • (fumite) 

1. (obsolete) same as for fude above: brush; pen; writing

/pitu/ → /fitu/ → /hitu/

From Middle Chinese 筆／笔 (pit, “writing brush”). Compare modern Hakka and Min Nan pit, Mandarin bǐ.

• (Tokyo) ひつ [hìtsúꜜ] (Odaka – [2])^[3]
• IPA^(key): [çit͡sɨ]

筆(ひつ) • (hitsu) 

1. a brush, a pen, a writing or drawing implement
2. the mark made by a brush or pen
3. writing or drawing with a brush or pen
4. an allotment of land, such as for agriculture or housing (from the way that a description of the land and the owner would be written down in the survey register)

筆 (eumhun 붓 필 (but pil))

1. hanja form^? of 필 (“writing brush; to write; stroke”)

筆: Hán Nôm readings: bút, viết

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.