貝

貝 (Kangxi radical 154, 貝+0, 7 strokes, cangjie input 月山金 (BUC), four-corner 6080₀, composition ⿱目八)

1. Kangxi radical #154, ⾙.

• Appendix:Chinese radical/貝
• 𰂇, 唄, 垻, 㛝, 孭, 𫸳, 𭜼, 𢭲, 浿, 狽, 䢙, 𣇜, 梖, 𪸭, 㸽, 珼, 𬒹, 𥆘, 𦁀, 蛽, 𧧾, 𧳒, 𧼀, 䟺, 鋇, 𩗗, 鼰
• 則, 郥, 戝, 敗, 㲘, 𨿎, 鵙, 𪔡, 𠭁, 𬹠, 頁, 員, 𦮷, 𭶰, 𪽾, 𥦎, 筫, 𡪛, 𮦒, 䩀, 𦺲, 𫂢, 𥴶, 𥴹, 寶, 𧂟, 𫴩, 𠩠, 屓, 𬟫, 𢊾, 𪊾, 閴, 齎

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1204, character 1
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 36656
• Dae Jaweon: page 1665, character 2
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 6, page 3622, character 1
• Unihan data for U+8C9D

Historical forms of the character 貝
Shang	Western Zhou	Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Pictogram (象形) – cowrie.

Cowries were used as money in ancient China (shell money).

Possibly from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *bwap (“snail”); cognate with Jingpho pawp, lapawp (“snail”), Chepang बोप् (bop, “snail”) (STEDT; Starostin; Schuessler, 2007).

Alternatively, Guo (1945) proposes that it is an ancient loanword from languages of the south (which call it bia). Since the species of sea snail used as decoration and currency—Monetaria moneta (money cowry)—is not native to the eastern seashores of China, he proposes that cowries used by the ancient Chinese dynasties in Central China must have come from the southeastern shores of China and areas further south. Compare Malay bia (“cowry”), Thai เบี้ย (bîia, “cowry shell; money”), Proto-Mon-Khmer *ɓa(a)j (“bean, small weight or coin”) > Khasi sbâi (“cowry; shell; money”), Khmer ពៃ (pɨy, “obsolete small coin”) (Schuessler, 2007).

貝

1. shellfish; cowrie
2. ^† money; currency
3. a surname

   貝聿銘／贝聿铭  ―  Bèi Yùmíng  ―  Ieoh Ming Pei (Chinese-American architect)

• “貝”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

• Go-on: はい (hai)
• Kan-on: はい (hai)
• Kan’yō-on: ばい (bai)
• Kun: かい (kai, 貝, Jōyō)^{←かひ (kafi, 貝, historical)}

貝(かい) (kai): display of various shellfish specimens

⟨kapi₁⟩ → */kapʲi/ → /kaɸi/ → /kawi/ → /kai/

From Old Japanese,[1] from Proto-Japonic *kapi. Appears voiced in the Kojiki of 712 CE in a compound, with the phonetic man'yōgana spelling 賀比,[2] and in the Man'yōshū, completed some time after 759 CE.[3]

• (Tokyo) か​い [káꜜì] (Atamadaka – [1])[4][5][6]
• IPA^(key): [ka̠i]

貝(かい) • (kai) ^{←かひ (kafi)?}

1. [from 712] an aquatic shellfish (generally limited to mollusks with calcareous shells such as clams or snails, and excluding crustaceans such as shrimp or crabs)

バイ (bai): Babylonia japonica or Japanese ivory shell for sale at a fishmarket in Japan.

Probably ultimately from Middle Chinese 貝 (MC pajH). Compare modern Min Nan pronunciation buê⁶, Cantonese bui³, Mandarin bèi.

First attested in 1284.[7]

• (Tokyo) ば​い [báꜜì] (Atamadaka – [1])[4]
• IPA^(key): [ba̠i]

貝(ばい) or 貝(バイ) • (bai) ^{←ばい (bai)?}

1. [from 1284] Babylonia japonica (Japanese babylon or Japanese ivory shell)

• As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana, especially in biological contexts (where katakana is customary).

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Middle Korean readings, if any”)

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [pʰɛ] ~ [pʰe̞]
• Phonetic hangul: [패/페]

Wikisource 貝 (eumhun 조개 패 (jogae pae))

1. Hanja form^? of 패 (“clam, shellfish”).

貝: Hán Nôm readings: bối, buổi, bói, búi, với, mấy, mới, vuối, thói

1. chữ Hán form of bối (“seashell”).

   寶貝 ― bảo bối ― precious thing (literally, “precious seashell”)