ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I discuss bì. I demonstrate that, in terms of potential interpretations, bì expresses a combination of the possible readings of the yídìng family, that is, bì can express strong epistemic necessity, strong deontic necessity and intensification. Particularly, I show that bì is semantically underspecified with respect to an epistemic reading and a deontic reading, in a way similar to English must. I also argue that the unique property of bì is its archaic usage (wényánwén yòngfǎ), which is not shared with the other yídìng family members.
