兵

Stroke order

兵 (Kangxi radical 12, 八+5, 7 strokes, cangjie input 人一金 (OMC), four-corner 7280₁, composition ⿱丘八)

• 乒, 乓, 㑟, 㙃, 娦, 捠, 浜, 梹, 鋲, 宾, 鬂
• 𠴇, 𭜾, 𪻤, 𮀠, 𮇡, 𦛼, 𮔐, 𮫽, 𮝶, 𠔦, 𨛪, 𠓫, 𠡥, 𮏊, 𭼑, 𧇀, 𨴴, 𡇥, 𦷇, 𮆔
• 𰴀, 𰷒, 𰁃

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 127, character 10
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 1462
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 244, character 4
• Unihan data for U+5175

Historical forms of the character 兵
Shang	Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts
Oracle bone script j05124 j05125 j05126 Bronze inscriptions b03381 b03382 b03383 b03384 b03385 b03386 Small seal script s01979 s01980 s01981 Transcribed ancient scripts L33068 L33069 L33070 L33071 L33072 L33073 L10409 L10410 L10411 L10412 L10413
References: Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation), which in turn draws data from various collections of ancient forms of Chinese characters, including: Shuowen Jiezi (small seal), Jinwen Bian (bronze inscriptions), Liushutong (Liushutong characters) and Yinxu Jiaguwen Bian (oracle bone script).

Ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意) : 斤 (“a short axe”) + 廾 (“2 hands”) – a pair of hands holding a weapon. Unrelated to 丘.

兵

1. weapon

   • 是何異於刺人而殺之，曰：「非我也，兵也。」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     是何异于刺人而杀之，曰：「非我也，兵也。」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Mencius, c. 4^th century BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Shì hé yìyú cì rén ér shā zhī, yuē: “Fēi wǒ yě, bīng yě.”

     In what does this differ from stabbing a man and killing him, and then saying - "It was not I; it was the weapon?"

2. army; troops

   • 幽王舉烽火徵兵，兵莫至。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     幽王举烽火征兵，兵莫至。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE

     Yōu Wáng jǔ fēnghuǒ zhēng bīng, bīng mò zhì.

     King You lit the signal beacons to summon the troops, but none arrived.

   • 欲強兵者，務富其民。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     欲强兵者，务富其民。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Zhanguo Ce, circa 5^th – 3^rd centuries BCE

     Yù qiáng bīng zhě, wù fù qí mín.

     To empower the armies, one must first enrich the civilians.

3. soldier; warrior (Classifier: 個／个)

   士兵  ―  shìbīng  ―  soldier

4. warfare

   • 兵者，國之大事。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     兵者，国之大事。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Art of War, circa 5^th century BCE, translated based on Lionel Giles's version

     Bīng zhě, guó zhī dàshì.

     Warfare is of vital importance to the State.

5. (xiangqi) pawn; private; soldier: 🩦 (on the red side)
6. (chess) pawn
7. (Cantonese) Short for 觀音兵 / 观音兵 (guānyīnbīng).
8. (Philippine Hokkien) police

• (Chinese chess pieces) 帥 / 帅 (shuài) / 將 / 将, 仕 (shì) / 士 (shì), 相 / 象 (xiàng), 俥 / 伡 / 車 / 车, 傌 / 㐷 / 馬 / 马 (mǎ), 炮 / 砲 / 炮, 兵 (bīng) / 卒

Chess pieces in Mandarin · 國際象棋棋子 / 国际象棋棋子 (guójì xiàngqí qízǐ) (layout · text)
王 (wáng), 國王 / 国王 (guówáng)	后 (hòu), 皇后 (huánghòu)	車 / 车 (jū), 城堡 (chéngbǎo)	象 (xiàng), 主教 (zhǔjiào)	馬 / 马 (mǎ), 騎士 / 骑士 (qíshì)	兵 (bīng)

• “兵”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

(Fourth grade kyōiku kanji)

• Go-on: ひょう (hyō, Jōyō)^{←ひやう (fyau, historical)}
• Kan-on: へい (hei, Jōyō)^{←へい (fei, historical)}
• Kun: つわもの (tsuwamono, 兵)、いくさ (ikusa, 兵)

From Middle Chinese 兵 (MC pjaeng). The kan'on, so a later borrowing.

• (Tokyo) へー (Atamadaka – )^[1]
• IPA^(key):

兵(へい) • (hei) 

1. a soldier
2. a war machine; a weapon
3. a battle, a war
4. in the old Japanese military structure, the lowest set of ranks for a soldier: a private, corporal, lance corporal

From Middle Chinese 兵 (MC pjaeng). The goon, so an earlier borrowing.

• (Tokyo) ひょー (Atamadaka – )^[1]
• IPA^(key):

兵(ひょう) • (hyō) 

1. soldier
2. another name for 歩(ふ) (fu) in shogi

• 仗

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Middle Korean readings, if any”)

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key):
• Phonetic hangul:

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

兵

Wikisource

兵 (eumhun 군사 병 (gunsa byeong))

1. hanja form^? of 병 (“soldier”)

兵: Hán Việt readings: binh (補(bổ)明(minh)切(thiết))^[1][2][3][4]
兵: Nôm readings: binh^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}, banh^{[1][3][4][5][6]}, bênh^[1][3][7][5], bưng^[1], bành^[1]

1. chữ Hán form of binh (“military troops”).