品

The Chinese character 品 (pǐn) is composed of two parts: the radical 皿 (mǐn), which means "bowl" or "container," and the phonetic component 匜 (yí), which is a pictograph of a wine vessel. The combination of these two components suggests the idea of "tasting" or "sampling," which is the original meaning of the character. Over time, the meaning of 品 has expanded to include the ideas of "quality," "grade," and "category."The character 品 is also used in a number of compound words, such as 品质 (pǐnzhì, "quality"), 品种 (pǐnzhǒng, "variety"), and 品味 (pǐnwèi, "taste"). In these compounds, the character 品 retains its original meaning of "tasting" or "sampling," but it also takes on the additional meaning of "evaluating" or "judging."The character 品 is a versatile character that can be used in a variety of contexts. It is a common character in everyday Chinese, and it is also used in more formal writing. HSK learners should be familiar with the character 品 and its various meanings in order to be able to understand and communicate effectively in Chinese.