HSK Guide

部首 154cowrie shell; money, wealth

bèi (fourth tone, falling)

cowrie shell; money, wealth

部首 1547 画0 汉字

Also written — the same radical in a different position inside the character.

Where the shape comes from

A cowrie shell: the box is the shell with its slit, and the two legs below are the feelers of the animal. Cowries were the earliest currency, so the radical marks value and transaction — 贵, 货, 财, and the traditional 買 and 賣, whose simplified forms 买 and 卖 have lost the shell.

汉字 filed under

No published character on HSK Guide is filed under this radical yet. 汉字库.