mǎi
buy
我买了一本书。
wǒ mǎi le yī běn shū.
I bought a book.
你买什么了？
nǐ mǎi shénme le?
What did you buy?
我们去买东西吧。
wǒmen qù mǎi dōngxi ba.
Let's go shopping.
购 (gòu)
purchase
买入 (mǎirù)
buy in
采买 (cǎimǎi)
purchase
卖 (mài)
sell
赠送 (zèngsòng)
give away
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The Chinese character 买 (mǎi) for "to buy" is composed of two parts: the radical 贝 (bèi) and the phonetic component买 (mǎi). The radical 贝 originally represented a cowrie shell, which was used as a form of currency in ancient China. The phonetic component 买 is a simplified form of the character 賣 (mài), which also means "to buy". The combination of the radical 贝 and the phonetic component 买 creates the character 买, which represents the concept of "buying" or "purchasing".The character 买 has a long history in the Chinese language, dating back to the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600-1046 BC). It is one of the most commonly used characters in modern Chinese, and it can be found in a variety of contexts, such as shopping, business, and economics.
