How to Write 坯 (pī) — Meaning “unbaked brick; base; blank”

Picture a lump of wet clay (土) sitting on a table, waiting to be shaped into a brick. The right part 丕 looks like a person standing next to it, saying "Pī!" to remind you it's still raw and unfinished.

Write the left radical 土 first, keeping it narrow. Then write 丕 with five strokes: horizontal line, left-falling stroke, another horizontal, a vertical, and a final horizontal. A common mistake is making the left part too wide or forgetting the left-falling stroke in 丕.

在 (zài) has 土 on the left but a different right part 才, meaning 'at' or 'in'. 圩 (wéi or xū) also has 土 but with 于 on the right, meaning 'dike' or 'market'. 坯 uses 丕, and its meaning relates to unfired bricks or unfinished materials.

坯 appears in words like 坯布 (pī bù, grey unbleached cloth) and 砖坯 (zhuān pī, unfired brick). It can also mean 'base' or 'potential' in metaphors, such as 好坯子 (hǎo pī zi, a person with good natural qualities). It is common in manufacturing and construction contexts but not in everyday HSK vocabulary.

Common words containing 坯 include: 坯布 (pī bù) — grey cloth; unbleached cloth; 砖坯 (zhuān pī) — Unfired brick; 坯子 (pī zi) — unfinished product; base; character (metaphorical).