Characters › 北
A way to remember it
Two people standing back to back. The back was the original sense; because a house in northern China faces south, your back is to the north, and that is the meaning that stuck.
A picture that makes the shape stick — not a claim about the character’s history.
Draft — written with AI help and not yet read by a person. What that means.
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north
běi — north
Radical 匕 · 5 strokes · HSK 2
A way to remember itTwo people standing back to back. The back was the original sense; because a house in northern China faces south, your back is to the north, and that is the meaning that stuck.