页 (yè) means "page" with HSK 3 on the new exam.
Pronunciation
Meaning
Primary: page
Etymology
Oracle-bone origin
The oracle-bone and bronze forms of 頁 (the traditional form of 页) depict a kneeling person with an exaggerated head, essentially a human figure topped by a prominent 首 (head) element. It was a pictograph for 'head', closely related to 首 and 首-derived characters. The simplified 页 collapses the lower body strokes into 贝-like curves but derives from the same figure.
Form evolution
In bronze and seal script, the top retained the stylised head and the bottom showed the two legs of a kneeling person. Clerical script flattened the head into horizontal strokes and merged the legs into 八-like feet, giving traditional 頁. The PRC simplification reduced the upper head element and produced the modern 页, still with two legs at the bottom. As a radical it still appears in head-related characters like 顶, 颈, 额, 颜, 题.
How the meaning evolved
The earliest meaning was 'head', and the character was borrowed early as a component in head-and-face words. The 'page' meaning of modern 页 is a later semantic extension: a sheet of a book was thought of as a 'face' or leaf, and 页 picked up this sense, eventually displacing the 'head' meaning in standalone use. The head sense now survives almost entirely in compounds and as a radical.
Cultural note
Almost every character involving the head or face uses 页 as its phonetic-semantic element: 頭/头, 顏/颜, 頂/顶, 額/额. Learners who only know 页 as 'page' often fail to see why these characters share a component, missing the older body-part meaning that still organises a large portion of the lexicon.
Basic info
Example sentences
请翻到第几页？
Qǐng fān dào dì jǐ yè?
Please turn to which page?
From 页 (HSK 3)
Words containing 页
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 页 | yè | page | HSK 3 |
On the new HSK 3 exam
Studying for HSK 3? Keep 页 with the rest of your level.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Reviewed by RJ Murray, Founder, HSK Lord.