How to Write 脾 (pí) — Meaning “spleen”

Imagine the left radical ⺼ as a piece of meat, and the right part 卑 looks like a small flag on a pole. Picture a spleen as a humble meat flag inside your body. This visual helps you connect the character to both its body part meaning and its sound (pí).

Write the left radical ⺼ with four strokes: a left-falling stroke, a horizontal hook, and two short horizontal lines inside. The right side 卑 starts with 白 (six strokes) then a 十 below, and the whole character should be balanced so the 十 aligns with the bottom of the left radical. A common mistake is making the left radical too wide or forgetting the second horizontal line inside it.

脾 has the flesh radical ⺼ on the left, while 能 (ability) uses different components and has no flesh radical. 脆 (crisp) also has the flesh radical but its right side is 危 (danger), which looks like a knife on top and a snake below. Remember: 脾's right side is 卑 (a white box over a cross), whereas 脆's right side has a curved top and a hook shape.

脾 appears most often in the word 脾气 (temper), so you say 发脾气 to mean "lose one's temper." It is also used in medical contexts, like 脾胃 (spleen and stomach) for digestion. In Chinese culture, the spleen is linked to mood and digestion, so people talk about 脾氣好 (good temper) or 脾胃不和 (poor digestion).

Common words containing 脾 include: 脾气 (pí qì) — temper; temperament; 发脾气 (fā pí qì) — to lose one's temper; 脾胃 (pí wèi) — spleen and stomach; taste or preference.