Chinese Character Wiki
八

bā

eight

Pictograph of two lines facing away from each other. The current meaning "eight" is a phonetic loan. The original meaning "separate" is now written as 別.

Evolution

八 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
八 Bronze script Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)

Bronze script

Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)
八 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
八 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
八 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

八  

bā

eight; all around, all sides; 8

Most common words with 八
Freq.
Word
Meaning

八

8

八卦

gossip

八月

August

乱七八糟

at sixes and sevens

王八

tortoise

Component uses

Meaning component in 2 characters (1 verified)

詹 畟

Sound component in 4 characters (2 verified)

分 扒 叭 趴

Iconic component in 7 characters (7 verified)

分 公 半 兌 兑 兮 胤

Unknown component in 4 characters (1 verified)

兮 廛 刅 圙

Distinguishing component in 4 characters (4 verified)

尚 柬 酋 㒸

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*pˤret

peat

bā

eight


Statistics

HSK level 1

Appears in 47.7655% of movies

878th most common character in movies

451st most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

2

Unicode

U+516B

Shuowen

“八，別也。象分別相背之形。”


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