辨
biàn
to distinguish
to recognize
hardship (辛) + knife (刂) + hardship (辛) = cut between two hard things to distinguish them
A blade driven between two identical hardships forces you to tell them apart. The symmetry of twin 辛 glyphs makes the act of separating and distinguishing them all the more vivid.
这两种颜色太像了，我很难分辨。
zhè liǎng zhǒng yán sè tài xiàng le, wǒ hěn nán fēn biàn。
These two colors look too similar; I find it hard to distinguish them.
光线太暗，她无法辨认出那个人的脸。
guāng xiàn tài àn, tā wú fǎ biàn rèn chū nà gè rén de liǎn。
The light was too dim for her to recognize that person's face.
Words with 辨
辨识
biàn shí
identification
高分辨率
gāo fēn biàn lǜ
high resolution
不辨菽麦
bù biàn shū mài
lit. cannot tell beans from wheat (idiom); fig. ignorant of practical matters
八纲辨证
bā gāng biàn zhèng
pattern-syndrome identification based on the eight principles (TCM)
分辨
fēn biàn
to distinguish; to differentiate
分辨率
fēn biàn lǜ
resolution (of images, monitors, scanners etc)
思辨
sī biàn
to think critically
明辨
míng biàn
to discern
明辨是非
míng biàn shì fēi
to distinguish right and wrong (idiom)
是非莫辨
shì fēi mò biàn
unable to distinguish right and wrong (idiom)
真假难辨
zhēn jiǎ nán biàn
hard to distinguish real from imitation
真伪莫辨
zhēn wěi mò biàn
can't judge true or false (idiom); unable to distinguish the genuine from the fake