Language/Mandarin-chinese/Vocabulary/便-biàn-convenient

便 biàn convenient in Mandarin Chinese

Radical is 人 rén “person” (30), which is written 亻 when occurring at the left side of a character so as not to get in the way of the component at the right. The colloquial name for this radical is 人字旁 rénzìpáng “side made up of the character 人.” The other constituent of this character is 更 gēng “to change.” The idea is that “people” 人 “change” 更 matters so as to make them more “convenient” 便 for themselves.

Examples

随便 (隨便) suíbiàn “as you wish” [IE]; be casual, informal [SV]

便鞋 biànxié slipper [N]

大便 dàbiàn defecate (lit. “big convenience”) [V]; feces [N]

小便 xiăobiàn urinate (lit. “small convenience”) [V]; urine [N]

Sources

Book: Intermediate Written Chinese by Cornelius C. Kubler