坯 (pī) is a Chinese character meaning “an unfired mud brick”. It is written from 土 (earth; soil) and 丕 (great; grand), side by side, and takes 8 strokes.
Build the character for “an unfired brick; a blank”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
土 + 丕
Left–right structure
Structure from: ids-decomposition (现代字形 ⿰土丕；笔画数 3+5=8 与 hanzi-writer-data 一致)
Memory aid
Earth (土) on the left, 丕 "great" on the right: a great slab of earth that has been shaped but never fired — a raw brick, still just a blank.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
8 strokes
In real words
- 土坯tǔ pīadobe brick; sun-dried mud brick坯 = pī
- 坯子pī ziunfired blank; a rough unfinished piece坯 = pī
Go deeper
All readings
unfired brick; blank
an unfired mud brick; a rough, unfinished piece of work; a blank
没有烧过的砖；泛指还没有加工完成的半成品。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 土坯tǔ pīadobe brick; sun-dried mud brick坯 = pī
- 坯子pī ziunfired blank; a rough unfinished piece坯 = pī
Sound component
丕 family exact
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 坯 mean?
坯 (pī) means an unfired mud brick; a rough, unfinished piece of work; a blank.
How do you pronounce 坯?
It is pronounced pī.
What parts is 坯 made of?
土 (earth; soil) and 丕 (great; grand), side by side. The recorded source is: ids-decomposition (现代字形 ⿰土丕；笔画数 3+5=8 与 hanzi-writer-data 一致). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 坯 have?
8. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 坯?
土. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 坯?
Common ones are 土坯 and 坯子. The reading of 坯 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.