皆 jiē all
all; every; everybody
How it came to be
Two people standing one behind the other, over a mouth speaking. Two of them saying the same thing, and if the two agree, then everybody does.
How it is used
- A literary 'all/every' - equivalent to 都 but formal - 人人皆知 (rénrén jiē zhī) known to all, 比比皆是 (bǐbǐ-jiēshì) can be found everywhere.
- 皆大欢喜 (jiēdàhuānxǐ) means everyone ends up happy / a happy ending for all. Written register; speech uses 都 (dōu).