bèi

quilt

to cover (with); (literary) to suffer (a misfortune); used to indicate passive voice (placed before the doer of the action like "by" in English passive-voice sentences, or, if the doer is not mentioned, before the verb); (since c. 2009) (sarcastic or jocular) used to indicate that the following word should be regarded as being in air quotes (as in 被旅遊|被旅游[bei4 lu : 3 you2] to "go on a trip")

被 — the passive voice marker

Originally, 被 meant a quilt — cloth draped over a body, covering it. That sense of something falling upon you extended naturally to being acted upon by another, making it the word Chinese reaches for whenever the subject receives rather than does.

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Words with 被

一年被蛇咬,十年怕井绳

yī nián bèi shé yǎo , shí nián pà jǐng shéng

see 一朝被蛇咬,十年怕井繩|一朝被蛇咬,十年怕井绳[yi1 zhao1 bei4 she2 yao3 , shi2 nian2 pa4 jing3 sheng2]

一朝被蛇咬,十年怕井绳

yī zhāo bèi shé yǎo , shí nián pà jǐng shéng

lit. once bitten by a snake, one is scared all one's life at the mere sight of a rope (saying)

包被

bāo bèi

peridium (envelope or coat of fungi, e.g. puffballs)

原被告

yuán bèi gào

plaintiff and defendant

垫被

diàn bèi

mattress

失信被执行人

shī xìn bèi zhí xíng rén

(law) judgement defaulter (person who has failed to fulfill obligations set forth in a written court judgement, such as paying compensation to sb, despite having the means to do so)

棉被

mián bèi

comforter; quilt

植被

zhí bèi

vegetation

聪明反被聪明误

cōng míng fǎn bèi cōng míng wù

(idiom) a clever person may become the victim of his own ingenuity; cleverness may overreach itself; too smart for one's own good

花被

huā bèi

perianth (common term for calyx and corolla)

被迫

bèi pò

to be compelled

被选举权

bèi xuǎn jǔ quán

the right to be elected

More characters with 衤