贝
shellfish; ancient currency; surname; bel (unit)
Meanings
4 senses · 20 examplesnoun
shelled mollusk; shellfish
Collective term for mollusks with hard shells, such as clams, oysters, and snails.
We found many beautiful shells on the beach.
Clams, mussels, and river snails all belong to the shellfish category.
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Abalone is a precious type of sea shellfish.
This aquarium displays various kinds of shellfish specimens.
When eating shellfish seafood, one must pay attention to freshness.
noun
ancient shell currency; cowrie
archaicRefers to the use of shells as currency in ancient China before metal coins were widely used.
Shell currency is one of the earliest forms of currency in China.
Archaeologists discovered large quantities of Shang Dynasty shell currency in tombs.
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Chinese characters related to wealth mostly have the shell radical.
In ancient times, shells were lighter than metal currency.
Characters like 货 (goods), 财 (wealth), and 贸 (trade) all contain the character 贝, indicating relation to valuables.
proper noun
surname Bei
Used as a family name. Notable bearer: I.M. Pei (贝聿铭).
I.M. Pei is a world-famous Chinese-American architect.
A new student with the surname Bei joined our class.
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Mr. Bei is my neighbor; he is a very nice person.
May I ask your surname? My surname is Bei, like Beethoven's Bei.
The surname Bei is relatively uncommon in China.
measure word
bel (unit of sound intensity)
technicalAbbreviation for Bel; rarely used alone, more commonly seen as 分贝 (decibel, 1/10 Bel). Used in physics and acoustics.
The maximum output power of this stereo is 100 decibels.
Noise exceeding 80 decibels can cause damage to human hearing.
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The Bel is a unit representing the relative magnitude of sound power.
One Bel equals ten decibels.
In acoustic measurements, decibels are more commonly used than Bels.