被动
bèidòng · HSK 5
passive
被 (bèi, by/passive marker) + 动 (dòng, move) = moved by others = passive
被 is the standard passive marker in Chinese grammar (e.g. 被打 = got hit). 动 means move or act. Together: action done to you, not by you — the literal grammar of passivity.
被 — clothes radical 衤 + 皮 (skin/hide)
Originally a semantic-phonetic compound: 衤 (clothing) gives the meaning 'blanket/quilt', while 皮 supplies the sound. From 'covering' it extended to 'cover oneself with', then grammaticalized into the passive marker 'by', its most common modern use.
动 — force 力 + heavy/重 (simplified from 動)
The traditional form 動 combines 重 (heavy) as the phonetic with 力 (force/strength) as the semantic, suggesting the effort needed to move something heavy. The simplified form 动 replaces 重 with 云, keeping 力 to convey action and motion.