壁

	Old Chinese
嬖	*peːɡs
薜	beːɡs, preːɡ
鐾	*beːɡs
臂	*peɡs
譬	*pʰeɡs
避	*beɡs
檗	*preːɡ
擘	*preːɡ
糪	preːɡ, pʰreːɡ
掰	*preːɡ
繴	breːɡ, peːɡ
辟	peɡ, pʰeɡ, *beɡ
璧	*peɡ
鐴	*peɡ
躄	*peɡ
襞	*peɡ
僻	pʰeɡ, pʰeːɡ
癖	pʰeɡ, pʰeːɡ
廦	pʰeɡ, peːɡ
擗	*beɡ
躃	*beɡ
闢	*beɡ
壁	*peːɡ
鼊	*peːɡ
霹	*pʰeːɡ
劈	*pʰeːɡ
澼	*pʰeːɡ
憵	*pʰeːɡ
甓	*beːɡ
鷿	*beːɡ
幦	*mbeːɡ

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *peːɡ) : semantic 土 (“earth”) + phonetic 辟 (OC *peɡ, *pʰeɡ, *beɡ) – an earthen wall.

Etymology

Possibly borrowed from Proto-Tocharian *pəkənte (“hindering, obstacle”).^[1]

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Standard)
(Pinyin): bì (bi⁴)

(Zhuyin): ㄅㄧˋ

(Chengdu, Sichuanese Pinyin): bi²
Cantonese
(Guangzhou–Hong Kong, Jyutping): bik¹ / bek³ / bik³

(Taishan, Wiktionary): bet²
Hakka
(Sixian, PFS): piak

(Meixian, Guangdong): biag⁵ / bid⁵
Northern Min (KCR): biă / bĭ
Eastern Min (BUC): biáh / biéh / bék
Southern Min
(Hokkien, POJ): piah / pek / piak

(Teochew, Peng'im): biah⁴
Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ⁷piq

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: bì
  - Zhuyin: ㄅㄧˋ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: bì
  - Wade–Giles: pi⁴
  - Yale: bì
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: bih
  - Palladius: би (bi)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /pi⁵¹/
- (Chengdu)
  - Sichuanese Pinyin: bi²
  - Scuanxua Ladinxua Xin Wenz: bi
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /pi²¹/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
  - Jyutping: bik¹ / bek³ / bik³
  - Yale: bīk / bek / bik
  - Cantonese Pinyin: bik⁷ / bek⁸ / bik⁸
  - Guangdong Romanization: big¹ / bég³ / big³
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /pɪk̚⁵/, /pɛːk̚³/, /pɪk̚³/

Note:

bik1 - literary;
bek3 - vernacular (limited);
bik3 - rare variant.

(Taishanese, Taicheng)
- Wiktionary: bet²
- Sinological IPA ^(key): /pet̚⁵⁵/

Hakka
- (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
  - Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: piak
  - Hakka Romanization System: biag^ˋ
  - Hagfa Pinyim: biag⁵
  - Sinological IPA: /pi̯ak̚²/
- (Meixian)
  - Guangdong: biag⁵ / bid⁵
  - Sinological IPA: /piak̚¹/, /pit̚¹/

Note:

Meixian:
- biag5 - vernacular;
- bid5 - literary.

Northern Min
- (Jian'ou)
  - Kienning Colloquial Romanized: biă / bĭ
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /pia²⁴/, /pi²⁴/

Note:

biă - vernacular;
bĭ - literary.

Eastern Min
- (Fuzhou)
  - Bàng-uâ-cê: biáh / biéh / bék
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /piɑʔ²⁴/, /piɛʔ²⁴/, /pɛiʔ²⁴/

Note:

biáh/biéh - vernacular;
bék - literary.

Southern Min
- (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: piah
  - Tâi-lô: piah
  - Phofsit Daibuun: piaq
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /piaʔ⁵/
  - IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Taipei, Kaohsiung): /piaʔ³²/
- (Hokkien: Xiamen, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: pek
  - Tâi-lô: pik
  - Phofsit Daibuun: peg
  - IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Taipei, Kaohsiung): /piɪk̚³²/
- (Hokkien: Quanzhou)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: piak
  - Tâi-lô: piak
  - Phofsit Daibuun: piag
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /piak̚⁵/

Note:

piah - vernacular;
pek/piak - literary.

(Teochew)
- Peng'im: biah⁴
- Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: piah
- Sinological IPA ^(key): /piaʔ²/

Wu
- (Northern: Shanghai)
  - Wugniu: ⁷piq
  - MiniDict: pih^入
  - Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ⁴piq
  - Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /piɪʔ⁵⁵/

Dialectal data

Variety	Location	edit 壁
Mandarin	Beijing	/pi⁵¹/
	Harbin	/pi⁵³/
	Tianjin	/pi⁵³/
	Jinan	/pi²¹/
	Qingdao	/pi⁵⁵/
	Zhengzhou	/pi³¹²/
	Xi'an	/pi²¹/
	Xining	/pji⁴⁴/
	Yinchuan	/pi¹³/
	Lanzhou	/pi¹³/
	Ürümqi	/pi²¹³/
	Wuhan	/pi²¹³/
	Chengdu	/pi³¹/
	Guiyang	/pi²¹/
	Kunming	/pi³¹/
	Nanjing	/piʔ⁵/
	Hefei	/piəʔ⁵/
Jin	Taiyuan	/piəʔ²/
	Pingyao	/piʌʔ¹³/
	Hohhot	/piəʔ⁴³/
Wu	Shanghai	/piɪʔ⁵/
	Suzhou	/piəʔ⁵/
	Hangzhou	/piəʔ⁵/
	Wenzhou	/pi²¹³/
Hui	Shexian	/piʔ²¹/
Hui	Tunxi	/pi⁵/
Xiang	Changsha	/pi²⁴/ /pia²⁴/
Xiang	Xiangtan	/piɒ²⁴/
Gan	Nanchang	/piɑʔ⁵/
Hakka	Meixian	/piak̚¹/
Hakka	Taoyuan	/piɑk̚²²/
Cantonese	Guangzhou	/pek̚⁵/
	Nanning	/pek̚⁵⁵/
	Hong Kong	/pik̚⁵/
Min	Xiamen (Hokkien)	/pik̚³²/ /piaʔ³²/
	Fuzhou (Eastern Min)	/piɛʔ²³/
	Jian'ou (Northern Min)	/pi²⁴/ /pia²⁴/
	Shantou (Teochew)	/piaʔ²/
	Haikou (Hainanese)	/ʔbek̚⁵/ /ʔbia⁵⁵/

Middle Chinese: pek

Rime
Character	壁
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	幫 (1)
Final (韻)	錫 (127)
Tone (調)	Checked (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	IV
Fanqie	北激切
Baxter	pek
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/pek̚/
Pan Wuyun	/pek̚/
Shao Rongfen	/pɛk̚/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/pɛjk̚/
Li Rong	/pek̚/
Wang Li	/piek̚/
Bernhard Karlgren	/piek̚/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	bi
Expected Cantonese Reflex	bik¹

Old Chinese
(Baxter–Sagart): /*C.pˤek/

(Zhengzhang): /*peːɡ/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	壁
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	bì
Middle Chinese	‹ pek ›
Old Chinese	/*C.pˁek/
English	house wall
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. [t] as coda may in fact be -t or -p; Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	壁
Reading #	1/1
No.	688
Phonetic component	辟
Rime group	錫
Rime subdivision	0
Corresponding MC rime	壁
Old Chinese	/*peːɡ/

Definitions

壁

wall; partition (Classifier: 堵 mn)
牆壁／墙壁 ― qiángbì ― wall
rampart; defensive wall
壁壘／壁垒 ― bìlěi ― rampart; barrier
cliff; precipice
峭壁 ― qiàobì ― cliff; steep
something resembling a wall; lumen; surface
(astronomy) (～宿) Wall (Chinese constellation)

Synonyms

(wall):

Dialectal synonyms of 牆 (“wall”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Classical Chinese		牆, 壁, 垣墉
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		牆, 牆壁, 牆垣
Northeastern Mandarin	Beijing	牆
	Taiwan	牆
	Singapore	牆壁
Jilu Mandarin	Jinan	牆
Central Plains Mandarin	Luoyang	牆
Central Plains Mandarin	Xi'an	牆
Southwestern Mandarin	Chengdu	牆, 壁頭
	Wuhan	牆
	Guilin	牆
Jianghuai Mandarin	Yangzhou	牆
Jianghuai Mandarin	Hefei	牆
Cantonese	Guangzhou	牆
	Hong Kong	牆
	Hong Kong (San Tin Weitou)	籬壆, 牆
	Hong Kong (Ting Kok)	牆
	Hong Kong (Tung Ping Chau)	牆
	Taishan	牆
	Dongguan	籬
	Yangjiang	牆
	Hepu (Lianzhou)	牆
	Hepu (Shatian)	牆
	Beihai	牆
	Beihai (Nankang)	牆
	Beihai (Yingpan)	牆
	Beihai (Qiaogang - Cô Tô)	牆壁
	Beihai (Qiaogang - Cát Bà)	牆
	Fangchenggang (Fangcheng)	牆
	Kuala Lumpur (Guangfu)	牆
	Singapore (Guangfu)	牆
	Ho Chi Minh City (Guangfu)	牆
	Móng Cái	牆
Gan	Nanchang	牆, 壁
Gan	Pingxiang	牆
Hakka	Meixian	牆, 壁
	Yudu	牆
	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	壁
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	壁
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	壁
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	壁
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	壁
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	壁
	Hong Kong	牆, 壁頭
	Senai (Huiyang)	牆
Huizhou	Jixi	牆壁
Jin	Taiyuan	牆
Northern Min	Jian'ou	牆
Eastern Min	Fuzhou	牆, 牆壁, 壁
Southern Min	Xiamen	牆, 壁, 壁堵
	Quanzhou	壁堵
	Zhao'an	壁
	Tainan	牆, 壁, 壁堵
	Penang (Hokkien)	牆, 壁
	Singapore (Hokkien)	牆, 壁
	Manila (Hokkien)	壁
	Medan (Hokkien)	壁
	Chaozhou	牆
	Bangkok (Teochew)	牆
	Johor Bahru (Teochew)	牆
	Singapore (Teochew)	壁, 牆
Puxian Min	Putian	牆, 壁
	Putian (Donghai, Chengxiang)	牆, 壁
	Putian (Jiangkou, Hanjiang)	牆
	Putian (Nanri, Xiuyu)	牆, 壁, 牆壁
	Xianyou	牆
	Xianyou (Fengting)	牆
	Xianyou (Youyang)	牆
Southern Pinghua	Nanning (Tingzi)	牆
Wu	Shanghai	牆頭, 牆壁
	Shanghai (Chongming)	牆
	Suzhou	牆頭, 牆壁
	Danyang	牆頭
	Hangzhou	牆頭
	Ningbo	牆壁
	Wenzhou	屏牆, 牆
Xiang	Changsha	牆壁, 牆, 壁
	Xiangxiang	牆
	Loudi	壁頭
	Shuangfeng	牆頭, 壁頭

Compounds

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (壁):

→ Japanese: 壁(へき) (heki)
→ Korean: 벽(壁) (byeok)

Others:

→ Vietnamese: vách (“wall”)

References

^ Alexander Lubotsky (1998) “Tocharian Loan Words in Old Chinese: Chariots, Chariot Gear, and Town Building”, in The Bronze Age and Early Iron Age peoples of Eastern Central Asia, pages 379-390

Japanese

Kanji

壁

(Jōyō kanji)

Readings

Go-on: ひゃく (hyaku)
Kan-on: へき (heki, Jōyō)
Kun: かべ (kabe, 壁, Jōyō)、とりで (toride)
Nanori: かべ (kabe)

Etymology

Kanji in this term
壁
かべ Grade: S
kun'yomi

Compound of 処 (ka, “place”) +‎ 重 (he, “division”), in reference to walls dividing objects apart.^[1] The he changes to be as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) かべ [kàbé] (Heiban – [0])^[2]
IPA^(key): [ka̠be̞]

Noun

壁(かべ) • (kabe)

wall; barrier
- 2011 May 14, “アクア・マドール [Aqua Madoll]”, in Beginner's Edition 1, Konami:
  
  水(みず)をあやつる魔(ま)法(ほう)使(つか)い。分(ぶ)厚(あつ)い水(みず)の壁(かべ)をつくり敵(てき)を押(お)しつぶす。
  Mizu o ayatsuru mahōtsukai. Buatsui mizu no kabe o tsukuri teki o oshitsubusu.
  A water-manipulating magician who crushes his enemies with his massive water walls.

Coordinate terms

床(ゆか) (yuka): floor
天(てん)井(じょう) (tenjō): ceiling

References

^ Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

Korean

Hanja

壁 (eumhun 벽 벽 (byeok byeok))

hanja form^? of 벽 (“wall”)

Compounds

장벽 (腸壁/障壁, jangbyeok, “barrier”)
절벽 (絶壁, jeolbyeok, “a precipice (a very steep cliff)”)
방화벽 (防火壁, banghwabyeok, “firewall”)
벽장 (壁欌, byeokjang, “closet”)

Vietnamese

Han character

壁: Hán Nôm readings: bích, bệch, bịch, vách

This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

[1] Alexander Lubotsky (1998) “Tocharian Loan Words in Old Chinese: Chariots, Chariot Gear, and Town Building”, in The Bronze Age and Early Iron Age peoples of Eastern Central Asia, pages 379-390

[KDJ-2] Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN

[NHK-3] NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

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