琵

a traditional plucked string instrument

A phono-semantic compound:

珡 — semantic element indicating a stringed musical instrument

比 — phonetic element giving the sound "bi"

In ancient musical terminology, 琵 and 琶 were originally separate technical terms referring to different plucking directions:

琵 — plucking the strings forward (from right to left)

琶 — plucking the strings backward (from left to right)

Over time, the two characters were fixed together as the compound 琵琶, the name of the instrument itself. Thus, 琵 is not merely a label but reflects performance technique embedded in the character’s origin.

Like 琶, 琵 is a bound character and is not used alone in Korean or Sino-Korean vocabulary.

琵琶 (비파) — pipa; traditional Chinese lute

琵琶聲 (비파성) — sound of the pipa (literary)

琵琶曲 (비파곡) — pipa music piece

琵琶行 (비파행) — “Song of the Pipa” (title of Bai Juyi’s poem)

琵 and 琶 together form one of the clearest examples of technique-based character naming in Chinese writing. It is a good example of a character whose semantic life exists only within a compound, not independently.

The pipa entered Korea (비파) and Japan (びわ) through Tang dynasty cultural exchange.

In poetry, 琵琶 commonly symbolizes sorrow, exile, memory, and unspoken emotion.

In classical literature, 琵 almost never appears independently and functions as an inseparable half of 琵琶, one of the most emotionally charged instruments in Chinese poetry.

《白居易 琵琶行》 (Bai Juyi, The Song of the Pipa)

「忽聞水上琵琶聲，主人忘歸客不發。」

"Suddenly I heard the sound of a pipa upon the water; the host forgot to leave, the guest forgot to depart."

《白居易 琵琶行》 (Bai Juyi, The Song of the Pipa)

「轉軸撥絃三兩聲，未成曲調先有情。」

"A few turns of the pegs and a few plucks of the strings, and before the melody is formed, the emotion is already there."