彬 (bīn) is a Chinese character meaning “refined and elegant”. It is written from 林 (woods; grove (two trees side by side)) and 彡 (three slanting strokes (bristles, hair, light or pattern)), side by side, and takes 11 strokes.
Build the character for “refined; elegant”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
林 + 彡
Left–right structure
- 林 woods; grove (two trees side by side) · lín meaning
- 彡 three slanting strokes (bristles, hair, light or pattern) · shān meaning
Structure from: 现代字形拆分（对照笔顺数据核验：林 8 画 + 彡 3 画 = 11 画）
Memory aid
A neat grove of trees (林) on the left, three fine decorative strokes (彡) on the right: plain wood dressed up with elegant pattern — refined. Both parts are really in this character.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
11 strokes
In real words
- 彬彬有礼bīn bīn yǒu lǐrefined and courteous; polite and well-mannered彬 = bīnspoken asbīn bīn yóu lǐ
- 文质彬彬wén zhì bīn bīnrefined and gentle; well-mannered and cultivated彬 = bīn
Go deeper
All readings
refined; elegant
refined and elegant; well-balanced in form and substance (mostly in 彬彬)
文雅；外表和内在配合得当。多叠用作「彬彬」。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 彬彬有礼bīn bīn yǒu lǐrefined and courteous; polite and well-mannered彬 = bīnspoken asbīn bīn yóu lǐ
- 文质彬彬wén zhì bīn bīnrefined and gentle; well-mannered and cultivated彬 = bīn
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 彬 mean?
彬 (bīn) means refined and elegant; well-balanced in form and substance (mostly in 彬彬).
How do you pronounce 彬?
It is pronounced bīn.
What parts is 彬 made of?
林 (woods; grove (two trees side by side)) and 彡 (three slanting strokes (bristles, hair, light or pattern)), side by side. The recorded source is: 现代字形拆分（对照笔顺数据核验：林 8 画 + 彡 3 画 = 11 画）. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 彬 have?
11. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 彬?
彡. 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 彬?
Common ones are 彬彬有礼 and 文质彬彬. The reading of 彬 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.