卖mài

卖

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Simplified · Today

繁体

Traditional Chinese

賣 (mài, "to sell") in traditional form is a clever composition: the ancient radical 𧈵 once represented vendors calling out prices like cicadas, paired with 夂 suggesting the going and coming of commerce. The simplified 卖 made an audacious swap, replacing that old radical with 买 (to buy) — a visual inversion so striking that students still confuse the two opposites. In traditional script, you can still trace the echo of ancient marketplace cries, preserved in ink across centuries.

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Shuowen

Sell. The character combines a net-like radical (𧈵) above with the shell symbol (贝) below, originally depicting goods displayed in a net for marketplace exchange; the form mirrors 买 (to buy) but with the added stroke suggesting the outward flow of goods rather than inward acquisition, capturing the fundamental commercial act of offering value for money.

Pinyin

mài· HSK 2

卖mài

Character evolution

Shuowen

Pinyin