Origin of Chinese characters episode 5 贝（貝）

Added: 2026-05-07

[00:00:00]This is a shell.

[00:00:02]And this is how it looks like in Chinese writing system from the past to nowadays. In ancient China, shells were valuable, >> [music] >> especially for those areas far from the sea. People started to use it as the early form of money. In modern Chinese, this character bei still carries similar ideas as money and value. So, when you see this character bei [music] as a component in other words, it is usually related to money. For example, cai, money.

[00:00:33]Mao, trading.

[00:00:36]Gui, expensive.

[00:00:38]Jian, cheap.