How to Write 沛 (pèi) — Meaning “Abundant / Copious”

Imagine a cloth (巿) that is so soaked with water (氵) that it becomes heavy and drips abundantly. The sound 'pèi' can remind you of 'pour', as in pouring rain. This visual of a drenched cloth helps link the components to the meaning of copious water.

The radical 氵 is written with three strokes: dot, dot, and a rising line. The right part 巿 has four strokes: horizontal, vertical, then a horizontal hook, and finally a vertical stroke — note that the last vertical goes through the horizontal hook. A common mistake is confusing 巿 with 市 (market), which has a dot on top instead of a vertical through the horizontal.

沛 (pèi) has a right side 巿 (cloth), while 㳄 (xián, rare) has 欠 (mouth open) and means saliva or flowing. 氿 (guǐ, rare) has 九 on the right and refers to a spring that flows from a cave. Visually, 沛's right part is tall and straight, whereas 㳄 features a 'mouth' component and 氿 features the number nine.

沛 appears in common words like 充沛 (chōng pèi) meaning 'full of energy' or 'abundant', and 雨水充沛 (yǔ shuǐ chōng pèi) for 'abundant rainfall'. Culturally, 沛县 (Pei County) in Jiangsu is historically famous as the birthplace of Liu Bang, the founder of the Han Dynasty, making the character significant in Chinese history.

Common words containing 沛 include: 充沛 (chōng pèi) — abundant; full of energy; 雨水充沛 (yǔ shuǐ chōng pèi) — abundant rainfall; 沛县 (pèi xiàn) — Pei County.