赔

The Chinese character 赔 (pèi) is composed of two parts: 贝 (bèi) and 陪 (péi). 贝 originally meant "cowry shell", which was used as currency in ancient China. It is also a phonetic component in 赔. 陪 originally meant "to accompany" or "to assist". When combined, 赔 means "to compensate" or "to make up for a loss".The character 赔 has a long history of usage in Chinese. It can be found in oracle bone inscriptions from the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600-1046 BC). In the Book of Songs, the earliest collection of Chinese poetry, 赔 is used in the sense of "to make up for a loss". For example, in the poem "Bei Feng", there is a line that says "赔我乘屋" (pèi wǒ chéng wū), which means "to make up for my loss of a house".Over time, the meaning of 赔 has expanded to include "to pay compensation" and "to indemnify". It is also used in the sense of "to lose money" or "to suffer a loss". For example, if someone loses money in a business venture, they can say "赔了钱" (pèi le qián).The character 赔 is commonly used in modern Chinese. It is a useful word to know for anyone who wants to talk about money or business.