丙
bǐng · HSK 7
third in order
🥉 Bing! Bronze medal — third place, letter C in the lineup
丙 is the third Heavenly Stem, so think of it as the bronze-tier rank. The sound bing echoes a bell dinging for third place. In grading or listing, 丙 maps to C, just as 甲 is A and 乙 is B.
丙 — 一 on top + 内 frame (fish-tail shape)
丙 originally pictured a fish's tail or a sturdy stand/pedestal in oracle bone script. Its ancient meaning faded, and it was borrowed to serve as the third of the ten Heavenly Stems (天干), used for ordering and grading. Today it mainly means 'third' or grade C.