bā
to wish
Depicts a person grabbing something with their hand. Original form of 把. In modern Chinese this character is usually used only for its sound.
Evolution
Oracle script
(~1250-1000 BC)
Seal script
Shuowen (~100 AD)
Clerical script
Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)Regular script
ModernDefinitions
bā
greatly desire, anxiously hope; to long for; to wish; to cling to; to stick to; sth that sticks; close to; next to; spread open; informal abbr. for bus 巴士[bāshì]; bar (unit of pressure); nominalizing suffix on certain nouns, such as 尾巴[wěiba], tail
Bā
Ba state during Zhou dynasty (in east of modern Sichuan); abbr. for east Sichuan or Chongqing; surname Ba; abbr. for Palestine or Palestinian; abbr. for Pakistan
Sources
黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》p.1637