How to Write 俳 (pái) — Meaning “actor or vaudeville”

Imagine a person (亻) standing on a stage, saying "pay" (pái) attention to me because I am an actor. The right side 非 looks like two halves of a mask, representing the dual nature of a performer on and off stage.

Write the left radical 亻 first, with a short left stroke and a longer vertical stroke. Then write 非: start with the left vertical, then the two horizontal lines, then the right vertical, and finally the two right horizontal lines—make sure the left and right parts are balanced and not too wide.

俳 (pái) means actor or vaudeville, while 佩 (pèi) means to wear or admire and has the 亻 radical with 凡 and 巾. 佬 (lǎo) means an adult man or a term for a person and is composed of 亻 and 老. Visually, 俳 has 非 on the right, 佩 has a more complex right side, and 佬 has 老.

俳 is most commonly seen in the word 俳句 (pái jù), meaning haiku, a type of Japanese poetry. It also appears in 俳优 (pái yōu) for actor or entertainer, and 俳谐 (pái xié) for humorous or playful, often used in literary contexts. The character is not common in everyday conversation but is important for classical Chinese and Japanese cultural terms.

Common words containing 俳 include: 俳句 (pái jù) — haiku; 俳优 (pái yōu) — actor or entertainer; 俳谐 (pái xié) — humorous or playful.