BEI-1

(‘bei’ in the first tone)

Some 40 standard Chinese characters have a ‘bei’ pronunciation. Major sound-indicating components are; 北 (5 occurences), 贝 (5), 卑 (7)

The most common ‘bei’-spoken words are:

被 = bei(4) = quilt, (used for sentence constructions in the passiv voice)

北 = bei(2) = north

备 = bei(4) = to prepare

杯 = bei(1) = cup, glass

The common two-character version is:

杯子 =  bei(1)zi(-) = cup, glass