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Definition 2025

背

背

See also: 揹

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

背 (radical 130 肉+5, 9 strokes, cangjie input 中心月 (LPB), four-corner 11227, composition ⿱北月)

References

  • KangXi: page 977, character 21
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 29363
  • Dae Jaweon: page 1429, character 11
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 3, page 2058, character 4
  • Unihan data for U+80CC

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 背
Small seal script
Characters in the same phonetic series (北) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
背 *pɯːɡs, *bɯːɡs
鄁 *bɯːɡs
偝 *bɯːɡs
邶 *bɯːɡs
苝 *bɯːɡs
北 *pɯːɡ

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *pɯːɡs, *bɯːɡs) : phonetic 北 ‎(OC *pɯːɡ) + semantic 月 ‎(“meat”). Semantic 肉 was added to be distinguished from the derived meaning of 北 (“north”).

Etymology

Two pronunciations were distinguished in Middle Chinese: /puʌiH/ (“back”), /buʌiH/ (“to turn one's back to; to betray”).

Pronunciation 1

simp. and trad.
 背
Rime
Character 背 背
Reading # 1/2 2/2
Initial (聲) 並 (3) 幫 (1)
Final (韻) 灰 (42) 灰 (42)
Tone (調) Departing (H) Departing (H)
Openness (開合) Closed Closed
Division (等) I I
Fanqie 蒲昧切 補妹切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /buʌiH/ /puʌiH/
Pan
Wuyun		 /buoiH/ /puoiH/
Shao
Rongfen		 /buɒiH/ /puɒiH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /bwəjH/ /pwəjH/
Li
Rong		 /buᴀiH/ /puᴀiH/
Wang
Li		 /buɒiH/ /puɒiH/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /bʱuɑ̆iH/ /puɑ̆iH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 bèi bèi
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 背 背
Reading # 1/2 2/2
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 bèi bèi
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ bwojH › ‹ pwojH ›
Old
Chinese		 /*m-pˤək-s/ /*pˤək-s/
English turn the back on the back

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter-Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 背 背
Reading # 1/2 2/2
No. 408 409
Phonetic
component		 北 北
Rime
group		 代 代
Rime
subdivision		 0 0
Corresponding
MC rime		 背 佩
Old
Chinese		 /*pɯːɡs/ /*bɯːɡs/

Definitions

背

  1. (anatomy) back
  2. back; backside; reverse side
  3. back of the hand
  4. to turn one's back to
  5. to abandon; to give up
  6. to betray; to be disloyal
  7. to deviate; to go contrary to; to violate
  8. unlucky; out of luck
  9. to recite

Compounds

Pronunciation 2

trad. 背/揹
simp. 背

Definitions

背

  1. to carry on the back
  2. (figuratively) to carry; to bear (blame); to shoulder (responsibility)

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

背

(grade 6 “Kyōiku” kanji)

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Readings

Noun

背 ‎(hiragana せ, romaji se)

  1. one's back (part of the human body)
  2. one's height
  3. the rear of something, the area behind

Synonyms

Korean

Hanja

背 • ‎(bae, pae) (hangeul 배, 패, revised bae, pae, McCune-Reischauer pae, p'ae, Yale pay, phay)

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Vietnamese

Han character

背 (bối, bội, bổi, bồi)

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