How to Write 惫 (bèi) — Meaning “exhausted; tired”

Imagine you have to "prepare" (备) a huge feast, and after all that work your "heart" (心) feels completely drained. You can also think of the sound "bèi" like "bay" — after a long day at the bay swimming, you are exhausted.

Write the top part 备 first (夂, 田, but note the order: left-falling stroke, then horizontal, etc.), and finish with the bottom radical 心. A common mistake is making the 心 too wide or placing its three dots unevenly — keep the middle dot slightly higher and the side dots balanced.

惫 (bèi) means "exhausted" and has 备 above 心. 㥯 (yǐn) is a rare character meaning "anxious" or "to conceal" with a different top part. 恁 (nèn or rèn) means "so; such" or in some dialects "you" and has 任 (rèn) above 心. Their meanings and pronunciations are all distinct.

惫 is most common in the word 疲惫 (pí bèi, "exhausted") and in literary or formal writing, such as 面色惫色 (face showing exhaustion). It is not in the HSK vocabulary, so you will mainly encounter it in novels, news, or descriptions of deep tiredness, both physical and mental.

Common words containing 惫 include: 疲惫 (pí bèi) — exhausted; 惫色 (bèi sè) — look of exhaustion; 惫累 (bèi lèi) — exhausted; worn out.