北
Tap the pinyin to hear it
north; (classical) to be defeated
Formation & memory
Break the character into parts you already know.
How 北 is formed
Pictograph (象形字)
Two people 匕 sitting back-to-back; phonetic loan for "north"
Components 匕
? unknown part
How to remember it
north · Heisig RSH #454
someone sitting on the ground
Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.
Words with 北
The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 北边 | north; north side; northern part; to the north of | |
| 北京 | Beijing municipality, capital of the People's Republic of China (short name 京[Jing1]) | |
| 中北大学 | North University of China (Shanxi) | |
| 西北大学 | Northwest University | |
| 市北区 | Shibei, a district of Qingdao City 青島市|青岛市[Qing1 dao3 Shi4], Shandong | |
| 北海市 | Beihai, prefecture-level city in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region 廣西壯族自治區|广西壮族自治区[Guang3 x… | |
| 北安市 | Bei'an, a county-level city in Heihe City 黑河市[Hei1 he2 Shi4], Heilongjiang | |
| 天南地北 | (idiom) far apart; (idiom) from different places; from all over; (idiom) (to talk) about t… | |
| 东北大学 | Northeastern University (in Shenyang 瀋陽市|沈阳市[Shen3 yang2 shi4], Liaoning); Tōhoku Universi… | |
| 天南海北 | see 天南地北[tian1 nan2 di4 bei3] | |
| 西北工业大学 | Northwestern Polytechnical University | |
| 北大 | Peking University (abbr. for 北京大學|北京大学) | |
| 平安北道 | North P'yong'an Province in west of North Korea, adjacent to Liaoning | |
| 东南西北中 | the five directions 五方 east, south, west, north and middle | |
| 新北区 | Xinbei, a district of Changzhou City 常州市[Chang2 zhou1 Shi4], Jiangsu | |
| 城北区 | Chengbei, a district of Xining City 西寧市|西宁市[Xi1 ning2 Shi4], Qinghai | |
| 北国 | the northern part of the country; the North | |
| 北山 | northern mountain; refers to Mt Mang 邙山 at Luoyang in Henan | |
| 北海道 | Hokkaidō, Japan | |
| 新北市 | New Taipei City, administrative district in north Taiwan, formerly 臺北縣|台北县[Tai2 bei3 Xian4… |
Sound family
These characters use 北 as their sound component — compare how they read.
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 北 sound part | north; northern; northward | |
| 背 | back, backside; to betray, to violate | |
| 邶 | a place in Henan province |