花瓶
huā píng · HSK 6
vase
🌸🏺 花瓶 = flower + bottle — a bottle for flowers is a vase
瓶 (píng) means bottle or jar. A flower-bottle is a vase. Figuratively, calling someone a 花瓶 means they are decorative but not functional — just a pretty face.
花 — grass radical 艹 + 化 (change/phonetic)
花 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The top 艹 (grass) signals the plant meaning, while 化 ('change, transform') gives the sound and hints at how buds change into blossoms. It originally meant 'flower' or 'blossom' and later extended to 'flowery, patterned, to spend.'
瓶 — 併 (bing, phonetic) + 瓦 (tile/pottery)
瓶 is a phono-semantic compound. The right side 瓦 means tile or earthenware, signaling that the object is made of clay or pottery. The left side 并/併 supplies the sound 'ping'. Originally it referred to a pottery jar or jug, later generalized to any bottle or vase.