凭 píng to lean on
to lean on; to rely on
How to remember 凭: 任 to trust + 几 how many = to lean on. Grandpa will only trust his old walking stick, and nobody knows how many years he has used it to lean on.
Component breakdown
凭 = 任 to trust + 几 how many
- 任 to trust
- 亻 person
- 壬 ninth
- 几 how many
Grandpa will only trust his old walking stick, and nobody knows how many years he has used it to lean on.
How it is used
- Formal verb "to rely on, base on": 凭借 píngjiè "by means of, relying on" (formal/written), and signage-style 凭 + noun "with X (required)", e.g. 凭票入场 píng piào rùchǎng "admission with ticket only".
- 凭什么 píng shénme "on what grounds, says who" is actually very common in spoken Chinese as an indignant rhetorical question - 你凭什么骂我?(nǐ píng shénme mà wǒ) - "who says you can yell at me?"
- Compared to the everyday synonym 靠 kào "rely on", 凭 leans formal/written except in that fixed 凭什么 exclamation.
- 文凭 wénpíng "diploma" is a separate fixed noun worth knowing.